Up in Smoke
by Sweetmel78
Summary: What if it was Lulu that was presumed dead in the explosion that was anticipated for Johnny? How would her family cope with her 'death?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: The Unintended Victim…**

"I want the bomb placed under Johnny's car and it cannot be traced back to me at all," Sonny ordered his men Max and Milo in his office in the Italian restaurant. "I want the best person in the business to do it."

"Boss do you think it's such a good idea with all things considering?" Max hedged.

"No it makes it perfect. No one will think that I had anything to do with it," Sonny pledged. "I just want that punk far away from my daughter. This is what he gets for messing with my kids. Just make sure you all have alibis. Go somewhere public and stay there until the police come to you."

"Got it boss, I have a hot date with Diane. That just leaves Milo to get one."  
"I'll just go to Jake's for a few beers. There are a lot of people there," Milo said.

"Good just make sure you are seen, buy a few ladies a drink or two. I am going to have dinner with Alexis, the girls, and Michael. I'll see you when this is all finished."

Dante picked up the phone at his desk and dialed a familiar phone number by heart. It was going to be a long night of paperwork from the bust he and Lucky had done earlier that day. He had planned on taking Lulu out for a lavish dinner since it was one year ago today that they had met at Jake's. He had cut out before she had woken up in the morning. She looked so peaceful that he didn't want to wake her up. He just pressed a kiss to her forehead and went to work.

"Hey babe, it is me," Dante said once Lulu had answered. "Sorry that have some bad news, I won't make it to dinner tonight. But I will get out really late tonight. Why don't I meet you at Jake's around eleven tonight for some beer and pool?"

Dante smiled when she gave her response. "I love you and I will see you later."

"You just get done talking to my sister?" Lucky asked, handing Dante a cup of coffee.

"Does it show?"

"You have a big, stupid grin on your face," Lucky pointed out. "You always get that look when you talk to her."

Dante's hand rested on his pocket. The little black velvet box he had been carrying around felt like it weighed a ton. He planned on asking Lulu to marry him tonight at dinner. But the place that he had first laid eyes on her would have to do instead.

Dante remembered the night at the Haunted Star where he rounded up Luke, Tracy, and Lulu's three brothers asking them for their permission for him to marry Lulu. The only person that has given his permission right away was Lucky. The rest of them needed come convincing. Reluctantly, they all have given Dante their permission to marry Lulu. They promised that they would kill him if he hurt Lulu in any way.

"When are you going to ask her?" Lucky asked. "You have been carrying that ring for a month in your pocket. I am surprised that she hasn't found that ring yet."

Dante laughed. "It's been a game a hide and seek with her. I put it in the pots and pans somewhere that I know she would never look."

Lucky smiled. "Let's get this paperwork out of way so you can ask Lulu the burning the question."

Lulu looked at her watch, it was almost midnight. Dante was late; he didn't even call her to tell her that he was going to be late. She sat at the bar, she signaled Coleman for another beer.

"Lover boy is going to get it huh, Lesley Lu?" Coleman said as he dropped a beer in front of Lulu. "How long have you been waiting without even a phone call from him?"

Lulu glanced behind her, Milo waved as he was playing pool with a big biker dude. She smiled and waved back. Johnny sat at a table doing shots of tequila from the bottle that he had bought. Johnny had came into the bar shortly after Lulu had. He was drinking because of his latest break up with Olivia.

"I have been waiting too long." Lulu reached into her purse to bay for her drinks. "If Dante does decide to show up tell him I went back to my place and do not call or drop by."

Coleman chuckled. "The boy is in the doghouse, love it! I will pass along the message, Lulu."

Lulu got up from the bar and went out to the parking lot. "Son of a…" she trailed off as she noticed a car that completely blocked her in.

She knew whose flashy car that was. She turned her heels and stalked back inside of the bar. She approached Johnny's table. "Your car is blocking mine in."

Johnny looked at the half empty bottle of tequila on his table. "I am no shape to drive."

Milo was so engrossed in his pool game that he did not see Johnny toss her the keys. "When you are done give the keys to Coleman it will prevent me from driving."

"Okay, be back in a minute."

Lulu left again and a few moments later a large explosion rocked Jake's exploding the window and sending everyone running for cover.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:: Just a heads up, I was crying like a baby when I was writing this….**

**Chapter 2: The Cover up Begins…**

Coleman brushed broken glass from his hair. Smoke had poured in from the broken windows. The power was out. "Is anyone hurt?" he yelled into the darkness. He heard groans muttered that everyone was okay.

Milo got up from under the pool table. He did not see the beautiful blonde that he was been too cowardly to ask out. "Johnny," he coughed. "Where is did Lulu go?"

Johnny struggled to his feet. "My car was blocking hers in; I gave her the keys to move it."

Dante and Lucky just put the finishing touches to their paperwork. For the first time, Dante noticed the clock on the wall. It was past midnight. Lulu was going to kill him for being late. He sprang to his feet. "I have to go; I have let your sister wait alone for too long at Jake's. She is going to be mad at me."

"She probably hustling bikers at pool right now," Lucky said. "She is fine."

Ronnie came skidding into the bullpen. "Good you two are still here…"

"Don't start with me Ronnie; I am late for meeting my lady love. Tonight is the night that I am going to ask her to marry me." Dante said grabbing his jacket.

"Any other day I would say it's about damn time. But it will have to wait; there was a call in dispatch saying that there was an explosion outside Jake's no world on any casualties."

With a glance and without a word to each other, Dante and Lucky took off from the station like a bat out of hell.

Outside of Jake's looked a like a war zone, multiple cars were on fire that the PCFD were trying to put out. The source of the fire was nothing left but a melted, twisted metal that Dante presumed was a car at one point. He scanned the crowd, looking for Lulu. He saw nothing. All he wanted to was to see her, wrap his arms around her, and tell her how much he loved her.

Then he stopped in his tracks, the car that the fire department was trying to put out before the gas tank exploded was Lulu's car.

Lucky saw it too the color drained from his face. "Lulu?" he said barely above a whisper. "Lulu?"

Dante craned his neck to look over the crowds, forget proper procedure all he wanted to do was see if Lulu was alive. He glanced over to the waiting paramedics; they were treating Coleman for some cuts that he has received from flying glass shrapnel. The medical personal had grim expressions on their faces, knowing if anyone was in the car when it exploded that they did not make it out.

"Coleman!" Lucky shouted as he and Dante ran up to him. "That is my sister's car on fire! Where the hell is she? Please tell me that she gave you the keys and took a cab home."

"No can do, dude. Johnny's car was blocking hers in. He gave her the keys since he was too toasted to move it himself. She went back outside then there was an explosion," Coleman explained.

Dante's head whipped back to the car that was fully engulfed in flames. Johnny stood on the other side of the police tape staring at his car in shock. "_You!"_ Dante yelled approaching him. "You! Whoever did this _wanted you!"_

Lucky and Ronnie had to hold Dante back before he and Johnny could come to blows.

"We don't know for sure what happened!" Johnny said.

"Then where the hell is she?" Dante snapped. "When something explodes and you are near it, common sense is to contact your loved ones to tell them that you are alright."

"She was pissed at you for standing her up," Coleman stated, coming up to them. "Just before she left the bar, Lulu gave me a message to pass along to you."

"What did she say?" Dante asked.

"Just if you did show up she went home and do not call her or come over. Sorry man you were in your lady's doghouse," Coleman explained.

The fire department had finally put out the fire that once was Johnny's expensive imported car. "Detectives!" one of them called out after peering inside. "We have a body."

It was like it slow motion as Dante and Lucky walked to the car. Dante heard nothing as he as Lulu's brother walked over only to intercepted by Ronnie. "Don't you don't want to see her this way. Please, don't, you don't want to remember her like this."

"We don't know if it is even Lulu," Dante said, softly.

Ronnie reached into his pocket, pulling out a plastic evidence bag. "This was on the body, do you recognize it?"

Lucky took the bag. Tears filled his eyes as he looked at the diamond ring. "This is my mother's engagement ring. My dad gave it to Grandma Lesley to give it to Lulu's on one of her birthdays."

Ronnie tried to block the view up they did see that coroner van arrive and two attendants come out with a gurney and they placed a charred remains of a person in the black body bag. When the body bag was zipped up and wheeled away was when Dante lost it.

He fell to the ground. Lucky helped him to his feet. "Let's go. We have to go to the morgue."

Dante nodded wordlessly. Ronnie ushered them to a police car, where a uniformed officer was waiting. "Let, Lenny take you there, you are in no shape to drive. I'll get your cars back to you as soon as possible."

Milo had snuck out of Jake's during the chaos after the explosion. He had left once that Lulu wasn't accounted for. He was shaking as he drank a beer at Sonny's restaurant waiting for his boss to return.

"Is it done?" Sonny asked as soon as he entered the restaurant. "How dead is Johnny?"

"Boss…" Milo choked out. "Johnny wasn't in the car. He gave the keys to someone because he had blocked the other person's car in."

"Who?"

Milo took a deep breath before he answered.

"Who was in the car, Milo?" Sonny demanded.

"Lulu Spencer."

The wall leading to the morgue was lined with Port Charles' finest. News spread quickly that the body that was found in the car was tentatively identified as Lucky's little sister and Dante's soon-to-be fiancée everyone had come down to show their support.

"I am sorry," Mac said when they reached the doors of the morgue. "We got Lulu's dental records and we are comparing them to the body right now. You don't have to see her."

Lucky shook his head. "I need to. My Dad is…" Lucky began to sob, tears streamed down his face. "Luke is on one of his adventures with no way to contact him."

"Lucky!" two voices said in unison.

It was his two brothers than ran down the hall. "Please tell me that they are mistaken, mate," Ethan said. "It can't be our baby sister."

"The body had this." Lucky handed Nikolas the evidence bag.

"This is mom's engagement ring." Nikolas studied the ring.

"They are comparing the dental records now," Dante said. He had his hand in the pocket of his pants, holding on the jewelry box for dear life.

"Lucky!"

Tracy and the rest of the Quatermaines had arrived as well. Lucky embraced his stepmother. "I called Ned and Dillion they are on the ELQ jet and will be here in a few hours. The other jet is en route to pick up Laura in Paris."

Lucky nodded absentmindedly. "I… she's my baby sister. I promised that I would protect her. I broke my promise. This is going to kill my mother."

"No one could have predicted this, Lucky," Monica said.

"Don't worry about the arrangements, son," Edward said. "I've got everything under control. You don't have to lift a finger."

"Where is Mister Luke?" Alice said. "He would…"

"Luke Spencer is a degenerate. He's out who knows where and we have no way to contact him to tell him the news," Edward announced.

"Daddy this isn't the time," Tracy said softly. She would hate to break the news to Luke that his one and only daughter may be dead.

The coroner came out of the morgue. His eyes were downcast. "Detectives, I had made the identification."

Sonny sure he was hearing things. "You didn't just say that Lulu was in the car, _did you_?"

"I did," Milo said. "Johnny's car was blocking hers in. He was too drunk to move it. By the time he gave her the keys…"

"You should have stopped her!" Sonny yelled he raked his hands through his hair.

The realization hit him that he had not only killed his best friend's only daughter but his oldest son's girlfriend. He had known Lulu since she was in the womb. He had taken Luke out for cigars when he had told Sonny that he was going to be a father again.

"We have to go the morgue," Sonny announced.

"Sonny!" Jason raced inside the restaurant. "Tracy just left me a message. What the hell was she doing in Johnny's car?"

"We have to go the morgue and show our support to the Spencers and my son. They are going to need it."

"Not just yet, I broke into one of the Lopez brothers' warehouses to plant evidence that they were behind the bomb. They will never trace this back to you, Sonny."

The police may never tie Sonny to the bombing that claimed the life of his best friend's daughter. Sonny would just have to live with the guilt of what he had done for the rest of his life.

Monica snatched the file from the coroner. "I am a doctor," she snapped as she opened the file. "The family would rather get the information from some one they know than a stranger."

The coroner nodded. "Okay then."

Monica studied the file. Tears welled up in her eyes. "The dental records were a match. The body in the car was indeed Lulu."

The hallway was filled with sounds of grief, anguish, and despair as the news sunk in that the glue that maintained the peace between the many different families was gone. Lucky sank to the ground. Tracy embraced both Edward and Alice.

Nikolas pulled Monica aside. "Monica," he said softly. "You know well as I do the last time that a Spencer was identified through dental records. Dental records and medical records can be changed."

"There is not much left according to the report. Not enough soft tissue left to do a DNA test," Monica stated softly.

"Test the bone marrow. You can use mine to compare it to. Lulu has my bone marrow," Nikolas stated. "Please I don't want the Spencers and one else suffer through another death of a loved one that may or may not be really dead. They already been through that with Lucky."

Monica nodded. "Okay I will go an extract a sample of the bone morrow and you need to come to GH for me to get a sample of yours to compare it against."

Somewhere over the skies was a large private jet that flew quietly to parts unknown. A man seated on a plush sofa in the middle of the jet got up and headed to the back of the plane where the bedroom was. In the middle of the king-sized bed was an unconscious blond woman. An IV tube lead up to a bag a saline that was on a pole that was over the bed. A doctor was tending to the minor burns on her arms.

"How is she?" the man asked the doctor.

"The burns are superficial they will heal on their own and will not leave any scarring," the doctor stated. "I am worried about the head injury. There is no swelling, which is a good sign. She will wake up when she does. There is nothing else that I can do."

The man nodded. "Thank you; keep me up to date on her condition no matter how small."

"I will, sir."

The man left the room and headed back to the leather sofa. He was smiling. He never thought that someone else would have made his job so easy. No one would be missing her now, he had seen to that.

No one will be out looking for her since the body he had placed in the car would be identified as her once he swapped her medical records to someone else's. His perfect plan finally came to fruition. The war had a new casualty.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Clean Slate**

The plane had landed in a remote private island in the Western Pacific. The man followed the gurney that the young blond woman lay she still was unconscious to the room that she was going to be staying in. The doctor told him that it was normal but she should regain consciousness in the next few hours.

The man's cell phone rang. "Yes? Is it done?" He stepped into the hallway to take the call.

"Yes, the body has been identified. Nobody will be looking for her," the voice on the other end said. "You are in the clear. No one knew that you were in town."

The man gazed down at her beautiful face. "Excellent."

The hours dragged on, after they all left the morgue everyone reassembled at the Quatermaines. Alice was serving coffee to a surprisingly quiet bunch. No one wanted to talk about anything. The front door slammed. "Mom!" a voice called from the hallway.

"That's Dillion," Tracy said softly.

A man in his early twenties with spiky blond hair entered the sitting room. "Mom thank you for calling. Ned is coming too."

"Thanks for coming, Dillion," Nikolas said. "You …"

"Come on Nik, you know I love your sister." Dillion noticed Ethan. "You must be the long-lost older brother Ethan I have heard so much about." He shook hands with Ethan.

"I wish it were under better conditions, mate." Ethan said. "Good to meet you, finally. I heard a lot of things about you."

"All good I hope." Dillion noticed Dante sitting next to Lucky. "You must Dante. Lulu told me a lot about you, too."

"And she told me about you." Dante shook his hand. "It's finally nice to put a face to the name."

Tracy spoke up. "The pilot just texted me, the plane with Laura will be landing in about an hour. A car will be waiting for her and will bring Laura here."

"Not the way that I wanted to meet Lulu's mother for the first time," Dante said softly.

"Even though Tracy's marriage to Luke was a sham, I always considered Lulu apart of this family," Edward said. "Even if she stole my Bentley a few times and took it on a joy ride."

"Which you had me arrest her for," Lucky pointed out. "And Tracy had me arrest her for stealing money from her."

"How much money are we talking about?" Dante laughed.

"About fifteen thousand," Tracy said. "We dropped the charges in the end."

"Lu was a very rebellious teenager," Dillion added. "She was none to thrilled to come to live here."

The door bell chimed, Alice went to go to answer it. There hushed voices then Sonny flanked by Jason came into the living room. "What the hell are you doing here Cornithos?" Edward demanded. "This is a family matter, you should not be here."

"In case you have forgotten Dante is my son, I am here for him."

"But you are not welcomed here," Monica said. "It's my house. I am asking you to leave. Jason you can stay."

"We have lost enough because of you and your world Sonny. It just now caused the death of the little girl that you have known since birth, I don't know how you could live with yourself after this," Edward said. "I'd just keep an eye out for Luke he may come after you with a shot gun for getting is one and only little girl killed."

"I just want to say I will take care of all of the arrangements, I will make sure that Lulu will get the proper burial. I am not going to spare any expense."

"We don't want your blood money, Sonny," Monica said. "We are going to take of everything. You are not going to be welcomed there. Stay far, far away."

"I am sorry; I am just paying my respects to the family. I am going to tell Carly and the boys. Do you have any objections about that, Edward?"

"By all means the boys are Lulu's family as well. They will be welcomed to the funeral, you won't. I will have you arrested on the spot," Tracy said. "And you might as well track down my former no-good non-husband and tell him that his daughter is dead."

Sonny nodded. He was already trying to find Luke but he was not about to tell him that he was responsible in Lulu's death.

The man stood out on the balcony drinking a brandy watching the waves crash on the beach below. The sun was beginning to set. They had been here for hours and Lulu was still unconscious he was getting worried that she hit her head harder on the concrete than he had first thought.

The fleeting sunlight shone on his family crest ring.

He couldn't have believed his luck. He had heard through his highly paid connections that Sonny had planned to bomb the hell out of Johnny's car and blame it on the Lopez brothers. Valentin had also set up the bust that Dante and Lucky had to send most of the evening finishing up paperwork He had seen Lulu park her car in the lot. He had his men park several of their cars in all the empty spaces leaving the only space left for Johnny to park. She had to ask him to move the car. He had hoped that he would go out to move the car with her and witness the bomb blast, but Lulu going alone was a blessing.

He found a hooker that matched Lulu's general description and took her to a shady dentist who did some work on enough to get some x-rays that he has switched the hooker's name that he did not remember and Lulu's. So when the hooker's body was identified as Lulu Spencer. He also disposed of the dentist in a car accident that would not be traced back to him.

He had tackled her before she was able to reach Johnny's car. Her head bounced off the concrete. One of his men stuffed the dead hooker's body in the car. The other man accidently pressed the key ring to unlock the door with Lulu a little too close to the fire causing the minor burns that the doctor had to treat.

"Mr. Cassadine, she is waking up," the man servant said, approaching him. "The doctor wanted me to get you."

"Thank you," he gulped down the last of the Brandy and handed the empty glass to the servant. "See to it that we are not disturbed."

"Yes Master Valentin. I will spread the word to the rest of the staff. Shall I have the chef make her something light to eat? It must be hours since she ate something."

"That would be ideal, she must be really hungry," Valentin said. "Have him make something nothing too heavy since she is on a lot of medication, I don't want it to interfere and make her sick."

"Yes sir."

Valentin knocked before he entered the room that it painstakingly took months to decorate. Lulu was struggling to sit up in the massive bed. The doctor and nurse kept pushing her back telling her not to exert herself too much. "What is going on, here?" Lulu demanded. "Who are you people? Why am I doing here?"

"I see that you are up." Valentin approached the bed.

Lulu looked up at the dark haired man that was impeccably dressed man the stood in front of her. He looked to be in his late thirties. He had a ring of some sort of crest on it that she couldn't make out. "Who are you?"

"Lulu you gave us a scare." Valentin sat on the stool next to the bed. "You have been out for hours."

"Lulu? Is that my name?" Lulu asked. "It's unusual."

Valentin breathed in a sigh of relief. Lulu didn't even know her name. That was an excellent sign in his book. Tabula Rosa. He had a clean slate. This was even better than he had hope for. A Spencer was completely at his mercy. He could mold her into anything that he wanted.

Valentin laughed. "It's actually short for Lesley Lu. Everyone calls you Lulu."

"And who are you?" Lulu repeated.

"What is the last thing you remember, Lulu?" he asked instead.

"Um…" she thought back. "I don't remember."

She began to panic; Valentin moved to the bed, he took Lulu's hand in his. "Shh," he soothed. "It's okay. I am glad that you are okay. We got in a bad car accident."

"A bad car accident? Why am I not in a hospital?" Lulu asked.

"I thought that you would be more comfortable here. I have a private doctor that been looking after you. Lulu you are perfectly fine here," Valentin assured her.

"If I was in such a bad accident where is the rest of my family and friends? They should be worried about me," Lulu wondered.

Quick thinking, Valentin came up with a lie. "Your family severed all ties with you. Most of your friends did the same. They did not approve of us being in a relationship. I think it was the age difference was a huge factor."

"How old are you?" Lulu asked. "Sorry that was rude."

"I'm thirty nine. I will be forty in a few months. You are only twenty-three," Valentin explained. "It's okay."

"That isn't much of an age difference," Lulu pointed out.

Valentin smiled. "Well they dislike me with a passion."

"They hate you that much for them to cut me out of their lives because I am with you?" Lulu asked. "Why what happened?"

"Why don't you get some rest?" Valentin said. "Let the doctor check you out some more. I'm going to find you something to eat. Do you have any requests?"

"I don't know what my favorite foods are," Lulu frowned. "Why don't you surprise me?"

Valentin squeezed her hand. "Okay I will be back in a few minutes."

As he got up, Lulu looked panicked. "Don't take too long. I promise."

To keep up the guise that they were dating, Valentin leaned to kiss Lulu on the top of her head.

Once in the hallway, the doctor was looking over some of Lulu's blood work.

"She is getting agitated, Doctor. Can you give her something to calm her down?" he asked the doctor.

The doctor studied the paperwork. "I need to go back to the clinic to get something else. The blood work came back with a surprising result, Mr. Cassadine."

"What is it?" Valentin demanded.

"It would appear that she is expecting."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Molding of the Clay**

Valentin couldn't believe his luck. He would have never anticipated that Lulu would be pregnant when he grabbed her, this couldn't be more perfect. Not only he had a Spencer at his complete mercy he had the first biological Spencer grandchild at his mercy as well, a grandchild that will be raised as a Cassadine.

"It's amazing that she didn't miscarry the fetus from the fall she had taken or the explosion she was in. Lulu is not that far into pregnancy, only about two weeks. She wouldn't have known herself for at least a couple of more weeks."

"Give her something that won't harm the baby," Valentin ordered. "I am going to tell the chef to make her something to eat. It's almost been a full twenty-four hours since she last ate."

"Yes sir, but make sure that they food isn't too harsh," the doctor said. "I have to go to the clinic to get the drug."

"I will have one of my men sit with her until I get back with the food. And doctor, how long will the memory be affected?"

"It's hard to say. Not only she has some head trauma from the fall she took, she also been through a traumatic event. Her mind is protecting her, not letting her remembering what happened," the doctor explained.

"So she may not regain her memory at all?" Valentin asked.

"It's possible."

Dante excused himself and went out to the patio on the Quatermaine's property. He reached in his pocket, pulling out the jewelry box that he had been carrying around for week. In the early morning light the diamond sparkled. They have been at the Quatermine's for the past few hours mostly because no one really wanted to deal with the next step.

"I'm sorry baby," he said. "I should have been there and this wouldn't have happened. Instead of you lying in the morgue you would have been laying in bed with me celebrating our love."

"That is a beautiful ring; Lulu would have loved it."

Dante whipped the tears from his eyes as Dillion joined him on the patio. "If there is any blame to pass around I deserve some myself."

"You? Why would you say that? I was going to have dinner with her and propose to her, but I had to work. Why would you even say that you were to blame? You weren't even in town when the car exploded," Dante pointed out.

"I know. I am sure that Lulu told you what happened between us."

"You got her pregnant."

"I should have pushed her harder to keep the baby and marry me," Dillion said. "She would have never met a few people and if we had her life would have been better."

"She would haven been miserable," Dante pointed out.

"She may be miserable but she would have been alive. She wouldn't have been at Jake's tonight," Dillion said.

Dante sighed. "We are partly to blame then, put the person truly to blame is the SOB that put the bomb in Johnny's car."

The patio doors open, Tracy stood in the doorway. "Dillion, Dante Laura just arrived. She is with Nikolas and Lucky now."

Dante placed the box back in his pocket and headed to meet the mother of the woman that he loved.

Valentin returned to Lulu's room with a food tray. The plates were covered with lids. He set the tray on the bed and he sat on the edge of the bed. "It's something light I don't want you to get sick. It's plain cous cous; it may be a little dry so I got you some chicken soup as well."

Valentin lifted the lids off the plates. "I will let you in peace while you eat."

He made a move to get up but Lulu caught his wrist. "Please stay, I don't want to eat alone."

Valentin smiled. "I'll stay but you need to eat. You need to regain your strength." He handed Lulu the spoon for the soup. "So do we have a deal, Lulu?"

Lulu nodded as she dug her spoon in the liquid. "Deal. So how long have we been dating?"

"Awhile," Valentin lied. "The baby is fine the accident didn't him or her."

Lulu dropped the spoon. "Baby? What baby?"

Valentin took her hand. "Our baby that is another reason why your family hates me so much they really don't approve of us."

"So they severed all with me when I told them I was pregnant?" Lulu asked. "What happened for them to hate you so much?"

"Finish eating and I will tell you," Valentin promised.

Dante came back into the Quatermaine's living room. Lucky and Nikolas were crying and hugging an older blond woman that looked like the spitting image of Lulu. This must be her mother the infamous Laura Spencer.

"My little baby girl," Laura cried. "I remember the day we sat Lucky down to tell him that he was going to be an older brother."

"That was one of the happiest day of my life," Lucky responded. "Now…" he trailed off he noticed Dante had returned to the room. "Mom this is Dante."

Dante extended his hand but Laura pulled him into a hug. "This isn't the way I wanted to meet you," he said.

"I know. She really loved you," Laura said as she pulled away. "I hope you know that."

Dante nodded. It didn't make it hurt less. "I know. I was looking forward to become a member of this family. I was going to ask Lulu to marry me tonight."

"You will always be apart of this family," Laura assured him.

After Lulu finished her dinner and the tray was taken away, Valentin spun a tale about how Lulu and her family became estranged. "We met on the docks in a sleepy town in the Midwest by Lake Ontario. You were staring out at the water in the river watching the ships go by and I was just walking by drinking a cup of coffee and on the phone not really paying attention to anything. We ran into each other, I spilled my coffee all over you. I apologized and I asked you out to dinner that night. You accepted and we have been together ever since. I guess it was love at first sight for me. It took you a little longer to realize it."

"And why don't my friends and family approve of you?" Lulu asked.

"What I do for a living. They didn't approve of what I do."

"That has me curious, what do you do?"

"I run the family business. You family thinks I have no soul and was against us from the very beginning."

"Family business, like the mob?" Lulu asked.

"Yes, something like the mob. That is why your family hates me so much. They think I have no soul and ruthless. That I would do anything and everything that I want," Valentin explained.

"You cannot be that bad if I am still with you," Lulu pointed out.

Valentin took Lulu's hand again. "You see the best in people. Now please get some rest."

Dante returned to the loft, he found his mother and Ronnie waiting for him. "Oh baby. I am so sorry." Olivia pulled him into a hug. "I know how much you love her."

"I know but its funny ma. I don't feel like she is truly gone. I feel it in my soul that she is still alive. I would feel it if she were truly dead. I would feel like my world is shattered, I don't feel that way. I just have a feeling that she is out there somewhere waiting for me to find her." Dante went over to sit on the sofa.

"You are in shock," Ronnie said. "The dental records were a match. It will take awhile to sink in."

Dante shook his head. "I don't care! Dental records could be tampered with or changed somehow. I don't feel like she is dead. I would know if she were dead."

"Wait you think that someone tampered with Lulu's dental records?" Olivia asked, confused. "Who would do such a thing an enemy of your father? They know how close that Sonny is to the Spencers. Sonny loves Lulu like a daughter."

"I don't know ma," Dante turned to Ronnie. "What do you have so far? Is there any evidence of who had done this?"

"I you know I can't tell you anything about this ongoing investigation. But it does look like a professional job we are looking into the Lopez brothers."

"They like blowing things up," Dante added.

"Johnny is trying his best to corporate. He wants us to find the people responsible first. If he does… let's just say it wouldn't be pretty if he does."

Sonny sat in shock in his office. The morning's paper headline screamed: '_Bomb Blast Kills Beloved Local Woman'_. He had a glass or Bourbon in his hand. How could his plan go so wrong? If he knew that Lulu was going to be anywhere near where Johnny left his car he would have called the entire operation off. Now he cost his oldest friend a child.

"Boss, all our people are looking for Luke. No luck yet," Max said coming into the office.

"Find him before the funeral," Sonny ordered. "If he is not back in time for that, he will never live with himself."

"On it boss." Max turned and left the office.

Sonny tossed the glass against the wall. It shattered into a million pieces. He just hoped that he could find Lulu's father in time it was the very least that he could do.

Nikolas entered Monica's office in the hospital. "Did you get a sample of the bone marrow from the body?" he asked.

Monica nodded. "I did it myself. The vial of the bone marrow is with me. Are you sure you want so do this?"

Nikolas nodded. "I just want to make sure that person on the slab at the morgue is my little sister. It is all too convenient for me. A Spencer dying in a fire and being identified by dental records, look what happened last time. Lucky was alive and well he was being held captive for over a year. "

Monica pointed to a chair in her office. "Have a seat and I will draw some blood."

Nikolas sat down and rolled up his sleeve. "Just don't tell the lab what we are doing. I don't want the results to be changed."

"I have it handled. This is Patient X's blood. The bone marrow is Patient's Y. Don't worry about it," Monica assured him as she drew some of Nikolas' blood. "I am going to have the lab rush the DNA results but it might still take a long time. It is not like CSI it will not be ready in a commercial break."

Monica finished drawing the blood and placed a bandage over the puncture wound.

"As long as we get the results that I hope for." Nikolas rolled down his sleeve. "I want to see in writing that…that person in the morgue is not my beautiful baby sister."

Valentin passed the room that he was keeping Lulu in. The lights were off and she was fast asleep. Only the moonlight streamed in through the windows bathing her in a white light. He stopped in the doorway, watching her sleep. He heard footsteps approach him from behind.

"It seems to me that you already grown fawn of your captive," the person said, standing next to him. "She has only been here for just over twenty four hours. The doctor told me that she had lost her memory. I hope you are filling her head with lies."

"You really don't know me that well, do you?" Valentin said, with his eyes on Lulu. "What else did the doctor say to you?"

"He said something that you were going to tell me," the other person stated.

"Apparently Detective Falconari got her pregnant. She is only a few weeks. That fits into my plan perfectly a Spencer and Corinthos grandchild to be raised a Cassadine. I told her that we are in a relationship. I also told her that her family and friends written her off because they disapproved of our relationship. She seems to buy it."

"How did you explain her injuries she received in the bomb blast?"

"I told her that we were in a car accident," Valentin answered. "Again she seemed to buy it.

"Are you willing to raise another man's child?" the person asked. "Are you…"

"I am will to do anything and everything to seek my revenge on the Spencers and on my no-good half nephew. What is better than marrying my worst enemies' only daughter and sister and making them think that I procreated with her?" Valentin rubbed his hands together. "It is all falling into place even better than I had planned."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: A Seed of Doubt….**

Lulu woke up the next morning to find Valentin asleep in an easy chair beside her bed a blanket covering him. "Morning," he greeted when he noticed that she was awake. "Did you sleep well?"

"I did. Why didn't you come to bed? I mean we are dating and you did get me pregnant," Lulu pointed out.

Valentin smiled. "You were just in a car accident. I didn't want to hurt you."

Lulu struggled to sit up. Valentin got up to help her and sat next to her on the bed. "You shouldn't overexert yourself, Lulu."

"I am sick of being stuck in this bed, when can I get out of it?" Lulu said. "I need to stretch my legs."

"Let me talk with the doctor and see what he says. Until he gives his okay you are going to stay in that bed okay?"

"Alright, if the doctor says its okay I can take a walk along the beach? I mean I smell the salt air. It might be nice to get out in the fresh air and see the surf," Lulu said. "Will you come with me if the doctor says its okay?"

Valentin nodded. "I would be delighted to join you on the walk if the doctor gives you his okay."

Lulu squealed and gave Valentin a quick hug. She felt him tense as she touched him. She pulled back. "What is wrong? I am not going to break you know."

"You can never be too careful; I almost lost you in the car accident."

Nikolas rode the elevator up to Dante's loft. He fingered the bandage on his arm from where Monica had drawn blood. He wanted to check in on Dante. The man was going to be his brother-in-law after all. Pushing back the grate, Nikolas entered the loft. Dante was asleep on the sofa, clutching what looked to be a woman's t-shirt. At that moment, Nikolas knew how much Lulu meant to Dante. He owed it to tell the other man the possibility that Lulu might not be dead after all.

Nikolas cleared his throat. "Hey Dante."

Dante opened his eyes. "Nikolas," he returned. "What is going on?"

"The funeral is set for tomorrow afternoon, I have my people looking for Luke but I don't think that they will find him in time for it."

"They released her body that fast to the funeral home already?" Dante asked, hoping that there was going to be more of an investigation into Lulu's death.

"They got the cause of death and the dental records, which is enough for the PCPD to close the case," Nikolas said.

"But that is not enough for you, huh?" Dante asked. "Is that why you are here? Do you feel it too? I don't have this vast empty space in my heart that I thought it would be if she were dead."

"I am not going to beat around the bush; I am going to tell you something." Nikolas sat on an easy chair. "I don't know if Lulu told this or not since she was so little when it happened and may not remember it. She is a transplant recipient, bone marrow. She has my bone marrow. I was the only match. That is how I found out I had a little sister. "

"So what are you saying? You don't think the body in the funeral home is Lulu even if the dental records say it is?" Dante said.

"Sounds like you don't believe it either," Nikolas pointed out.

"If she were dead I would feel it. I don't have an empty feeling in my chest. I feel it in my heart that she is still alive."

"Good, that is why I had Monica take a sample of the bone marrow of the body that was not damaged from the fire. This morning I gave her a sample of my blood to compare it with."

"Why are you doing this?" Dante asked. "Are you ready for the results?"

"There is more to the story, years ago there was another fire, there was a body that DNA and dental records proved it was Lucky that died in the fire. It turns out that Helena kidnapped and held him captive, and made us believe he was dead for over a year. It seems too much of a coincidence for me for Lulu to die the same way."

"You think Helena might have her?" Dante asked.

"Helena never made a move to get Lulu in anyway. She is afraid of the fallout because there are going to be a long line of people after her if she ever did," Nikolas explained. "You said it yourself that you don't feel like Lulu is dead. Neither do I. I have a lot in common with my sister. She has my blood running through her veins."

"If not Helena, then who took her?"

Nikolas shook his head. "I don't know. I have my people working in it. Monica is rushing the results but we won't get them back until after the funeral."

The doctor gave is okay for Lulu to have a short walk on the beach. Valentin went with her. Lulu was a little wobbly since she was immobile for such a long so he offered his arm to steady her. Lulu loved how the warm sand felt between her toes as they walked near the surf. She saw some sailboats dotting the horizon.

In his other hand was a basket that the staff had filled with beach towels, a beach blanket, bottles of water, and a few snacks.

Valentin had his housekeepers stock Lulu's room with all of her favorite things, that it took him months painstakingly looking in her trash cans and entering her apartment when she wasn't home to get to know her better. He knew her favorite shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and many other things. His housekeepers also filled Lulu's closet with all sorts of clothing. Lulu opted to wear a clingy sundress over a two piece swimsuit. She told him that she wanted to get all the use out of the swimsuit before she was too big to wear one.

The beach was deserted except for them and the massive body guard that was trailing them. "Why is Bruno following us?" Lulu asked, looking over her shoulder.

Valentin chuckled. "Bruno? Why did you call him that?"

Lulu shrugged. "He looks like Bruno. Why, what is his real name?"

"You are right; his name is indeed Bruno,"

They stopped at the edge of the surf. Lulu dipped her toes in the water. It felt great.

"I wouldn't advise going into the water until the burns are healed," Valentin said. "They might be infected or something."

"I am not going to go that far into the water. I just hated to be cooped up in the room for so long."

Lulu pulled the dress over her head; Valentin turned his head as Lulu waded into the water. The purple bikini looked great on her. The color contrast on her porcelain skin made her look like a vision. Valentin felt a stab guilt for taking her away from her loved ones that took a moment to pass. He was a Cassadine and they feel nothing. He had many plans for Lulu.

He watched as Lulu frolicked in the water that came up to her knees careful not to get the bandages wet. He set the basket down and spread the blanket. Lulu emerged from the water, he handed her a towel. "Here you go. Why don't we see what the chef packed for us to eat."

Lulu toweled herself off and sat down next to Valentin as he unpacked the picnic basket. The chef out did himself; he had packed all of Lulu's favorite foods. Valentin's time and effort had paid off.

"These are all of your favorite foods," Valentin explained. "I just hope that you will come to remember all the good times that we spend together."

Lulu dipped her homemade tortilla chip in the Spinach and artichoke dip. "Can you tell me what happened? The accident I mean."

"I don't want to overwhelm you too much with too much information," Valentin said. "Your memory will come back to you when it does. Let's not force it, okay?"

Lulu nodded. "Okay. I think that is best as well. This dip is really good. The chef had outdone himself."

Valentin noticed that Lulu's shoulders were becoming a little pink from the sun. His staff had thoughtfully packed some sunscreen. He squeezed some in the palm of his hand and began to rub it in on her shoulders. "You are getting a little to well done, I don't want to burn before we get the chance to finish our lunch."

"Thanks."

From the far edge of the beach the person what Valentin was talking to with earlier, watched as Valentin oiled Lulu up and enjoyed the picnic lunch with Lulu. It's been only a few days since they had Lulu in their clutches and it seems to everyone that was on staff that Valentin was quite smitten with the young female Spencer.

They were laughing at something that he had said. This may work out to their advantage, if Valentin could get Lulu to fall for him and make her believe that the baby she was carrying was his it could mean that she would be indebted to him for the rest of her life.

The day at the beach wore Lulu out. She took a shower careful not to get the bandages wet. She changed into a t-shirt and a pair of loose fitting shorts. Valentin was waiting for her; he was out on the balcony watching the waves crash on shore.

"Hey," she greeted coming on the balcony. "I have a question to ask you, when I took off my dress to go in the water, you turned around as if you didn't want to see me get undressed, why is that? I mean aren't we in a relationship?"

"I was being a gentleman," Valentin assured her. "I did sneak a peek. You looked great. You are going to be one hot momma." Valentin wrapped his arms around Lulu, pulling her towards him, kissing her lightly on her lips. "We are going to be so happy together you, me, and the baby you are carrying."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: It's so Hard to Say Goodbye…**

Dante was trying his black tie to go with his black suit and shirt when his mother came up the elevator. Olivia was wearing a black dress. "Oh baby, I thought that you wouldn't want to be alone while you get ready."

"Thanks ma." Dante finished tying his tie and reached for his jacket. "Nikolas stopped by last night."

Olivia straightened his tie. "What did he have to say?"

"I don't know how to tell you this, ma but Nikolas doesn't believe that the body that was recovered was Lulu."

"The dental records proved that the body was his sister. Why would Nikolas think that?" Olivia asked.

"Apparently, there was a fire years ago that everyone thought that Lucky had died in. There were even dental records and a DNA match. It turns out he was being held captive for over a year. Nikolas thinks that history may have repeated itself. He is having his blood tested against the bone marrow of the body."

Olivia furrowed her eyebrow. "Why did Nikolas use his blood? I mean Lucky is her only full-sibling. You'd think that he would ask Lucky."

"Apparently Lulu had a bone marrow transplant Nikolas was the perfect match and that is how everyone found out that he was related to Lucky and Lulu," Dante explained.

"Are you the only person that he told?" Olivia asked.

"Ma it's not like that. I don't feel like she is gone. I don't have this emptiness in my heart that I thought I would have when the body was identified as Lulu."

"Reality hasn't sunken in yet. It will be really soon."

"No. Mom, I mean. If Lulu was dead, I would feel it. I don't. If the blood test comes back that it is not Lulu laying in that coffin I am going to spend the rest of my life looking for her. I will go to every continent if I have to."

Lulu awoken from her slumber, Valentin was asleep in the chair next to her bed. She thought back when he has kissed her on the beach the day before, deep down she knew something that was wrong. She felt like it shouldn't be happening. She didn't know how she felt that way she and Valentin were dating right?

Something was nagging her; she only had Valentin's word on what happened with her family. If only she could remember their phone numbers. She quietly got out of bed. She went to the bathroom that was attached to her bedroom. She splashed some water on her face.

The bathroom door opened behind her, she saw Valentin's reflection in the mirror above the sink. "You scared me, I woke up and you weren't in bed. I didn't know where you went."

"I just wanted to wash my face, Valentin," Lulu said. "Don't alert the national guard."

Valentin reached behind him, handing her a towel. "Here, I am going to have the chef start on our breakfast. I will meet you in the solarium when you are finished? It has the greatest view of the beach."

"Sure. I am just going to take a shower. Give me about thirty minutes and I will be down there."

Valentin left the bathroom; Lulu closed the door and locked it. She began to undo the bandages on her arms. She expected to see deep cuts on her arms from the car accident that Valentin claimed she was in.

"What the hell?"

Instead of cuts there were what looked to be burns. It didn't look to her that she was in a car accident at all. It looked like that she was in a fire.

Dante entered the empty church. The mahogany coffin was at the altar where he envisioned marrying Lulu. The coffin was flanked by the most beautiful flowers arrangement s that he had even seen. There was a poster-sized photograph of Lulu on an easel she was wearing the white and black dress the night that they shared their first kiss.

He sank on a pew. He looked at the ceiling. "I am so sorry baby. I should have put off work that night and taken you out for dinner. I had an important question to ask you. Then you wouldn't have been at Jake's that night waiting for me. I miss you so much. I love you and I always will."

Dante heard someone come in behind him, Dante turned it was Sonny. "Hello Sonny. I am surprised that you are here."

"Why shouldn't I be?" Sonny sat next to Dante. "You are my son. Lulu, I have known her since the moment that Luke told me that he was going to be a father."

"Have you found Luke yet?" Dante asked.

Sonny shook his head. "Unfortunately not, my men searched all of his haunts all over the world. He dropped off the face of the earth."

"It's going to kill him when he finds out that Lulu died in an explosion that was meant for Johnny," Dante said. "If I were him, I bet right now he's plotting war for that person who ordered the hit."

Sonny cleared his throat. "Carly and the boys are taking it really hard. They are going to be here soon."

Dante wiped a tear away. "I can't get myself to pack up her things yet. I expect her to walk out of the elevator all the time I hear it. Did I tell you that I was planning to propose to her that night? I had the ring in my pocket for months I was waiting for the perfect time. I should have asked her weeks ago then she wouldn't have been at Jake's waiting for me because I had to miss the dinner that I planned. I figured the first place I laid one on her will do just fine."

Sonny felt uncomfortable considering that he was to blame for his eldest son's misery. "Don't blame yourself Dante."

"If I were there she wouldn't have to movie Johnny's car…" Dante couldn't finish his sentence as he broke down in tears.

Sonny placed his hand on Dante's shoulder. "I am sorry son; I loved Lulu as a daughter."

The doors to the church opened, Lulu's brothers trudged in the church. Sonny stood up. "I am going to get some air. I will be back before the service starts." Sonny exited the church.

All of them were wearing dark suits and ties. "Hey Dante," Ethan greeted, "Scoot over I am going to tell the man upstairs to go easy on Lulu cause she's so hard headed."

"Heaven won't know what hit it with Lulu up there," Lucky said.

The doors opened again this time Dillion and Ned came in. "It seems that all of Lulu's brothers are here," Ned noted. "One little sister with five older brothers, I am surprised that you actually…"

"They tried, I got in a bar fight with two of them," Dante laughed. "While the third one broke up the fight."

"I am surprised that Sonny wasn't hit by lightning on his way out," Dillion said.

Dante smiled. "He's my father you know. I found out a few months ago right after he shot me point blank in the chest right after he found out I was a cop."

"Lulu dating a cop, I thought that I wouldn't live to see that day that she is with a good guy," Dillion noted.

The doors opened again and the priest entered. "Oh good, her brothers are here. There is one detail that the Quatermaines did not request. It is rather awkward to ask. Who are going to be the pallbearers?"

Lulu dabbed some green aloe vera gel she found in the medicine cabinet on her burns then covered them with some gauze. She really needed to know what was going on.

Valentin was in his office, there was a live feed of Lulu's funeral on massive plasma TV that was mounted on the wall. One of his men set it up the night before. He watched as Lulu's brothers gathered before the funeral started. He was thankful that there was even sound. The priest was asking them who was going to be the pallbearers. All of her brothers accepted the offer and her cousin Michael did when he came in the church.

Even from the television screen Valentin could tell that Dante wanted to be one of the pallbearers but relented to have Lulu's family members do so. He could see the sorrow in Dante's face as the rest of the church filled up with mourners. It looked like all of Port Charles showed up to say goodbye to the daughter of the infamous Luke and Laura.

Most of the mourners were in black. Valentin noticed that Laura came in with the rest of the Quatermaines. She was flanked by Alice and Edward as they headed inside and took the pew with all of Lulu's brothers. Sonny was the last person to enter the church and he stayed in the back. The guilt of causing Lulu's 'death' was all over his face."

To Valentin it was amusing to him that the entire town was going through all this grief and the person that they were grieving was alive and well and upstairs. Valentin didn't know what came over him the night before when he kissed her. She in all intent and purposes she was his prisoner and he did not want her to feel that way.

The door to his office opened, Valentin looked up. "What are you doing here?" Valentin asked. "If Lulu sees you it might jog her memory. That cannot happen. You need to keep out of sight if you want this to work."

His partner is crime entered the office and shut the door. "What were you thinking? I saw you two on the beach, you could not keep your hands off of her. I saw you kissing her! You are just as bad as your father a pretty face has you not thinking correctly. You know what her family has done to your father and brothers."

"Is that why you had me do your dirty work, Helena? Because you knew if anything happened to Lulu you would be the prime suspect?"

Helena laughed. "That is prosperous. You wanted to seek revenge against the Spencers, why not go after the Spencer with Cassadine DNA? Remember they all think I am afraid of you. They would never think that I will ever work with someone with the likes of you. I deserve an award for my performance."

"Still you need to remain unseen. It might be jarring to Lulu."

Helena did not leave the office; instead she turned her attention to funeral on the screen. "Hmm she has better turn out than her brother Lucky's funeral. I made Lucky watch his own funeral. Since she does not recall who she is right now it might not have the same effect like it did with her brother."

On the screen Nikolas walked up to the pulpit and began to eulogize his baby sister. Valentin turned up the volume as Nikolas recalled his first meeting of his sister in the ICU of GH. He explained that ever since that moment he wanted to protect Lulu at all costs. Like most people in Port Charles he had watched Lulu grow from a beautiful baby girl to the wonderful woman she turned out to be.

Lucky was going to go next but he was too overcome with grief to do his speech so Ethan got up to give his. He said that he only knew he was Lulu's older brother for two years but he wouldn't give up those two years for anything.

One by one most of the people in the church came up to share their favorite memories of Lulu. There was not a dry eye in the house. Even Sonny was getting choked up. It was now time to head to the cemetery. Nikolas, Lucky, Ethan, Ned, Dillion, and Michael were the pallbearers carrying the coffin to the Hurst. Dante followed closely behind with Laura on his arm.

There was a knock on the door then it opened so quickly that Helena did not have enough time to hide. Lulu came in. "Sorry to interrupt your meeting. There is something that I need to ask you Valentin."

"Sure." Valentin tried to change the channel before she noticed what was on the television but it was too late.

"Whose funeral are you watching?" Lulu asked, looking the screen.

At that moment it was when all of her family was carrying the coffin out of the church. She noticed that all the people were following it were crying uncontrollably. She felt something when she saw the Italian looking man that was following the coffin but she could not but her finger on it.

Valentin turned off the screen. "You wanted to see me about something Lulu?"

Lulu tugged the gauze off her arms. "Yeah you said we were in a car accident. Then why do I have burns? What else are you keeping from me?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: The Plot Thickens**

Valentin had to think quickly. "We_ were_ in a car accident. The car caught on fire; you were trapped inside for a little bit. The reason why I didn't say that is because I didn't want to force you to remember something so traumatic."

Lulu seemed to buy what he was saying, she nodded in agreement. "Sorry when I saw the burns I didn't know what to think."

"It's okay, Lulu. I would be suspicious as well." Valentin got up from behind the desk, wrapped his arms around Lulu. He steered her away from the television screen in case it jarred any memories. "Come on let's get something to eat, okay."

He let Lulu go out of the door first, Valentin turned to look at Helena. "Do not say a word to her. We don't want her to remember anything yet, do we?"

"We don't want to her to remember anything at all," Helena said quietly.

Lulu walked into the solarium one of the servants was setting up a bistro-style table in the middle of the room. The table was in front of the French doors that were open, letting in the warm sea air.

"Ms. Lulu, what can I prepare you for breakfast?" the servant asked, holding out the chair for Lulu.

"Um," Lulu sat down. "I would love some scrambled eggs, some sausage, hash browns, and wheat toast. Oh and a glass of OJ, please."

"Okay I will let the chef know about your selection."

The servant was going to push Lulu's chair in when Valentin caught it with his hand. "Allow me."

"Mr. Cassadine what can the chef prepare you for breakfast?"

After he pushed in Lulu's chair, Valentin took the chair across from her. "I will have whatever Lulu is having."

"Yes sir, the beverages will be out momentarily."

"So whose funeral were you watching?" Lulu asked. "Was it anyone that I would know when I get my memory back?"

Valentin cleared his throat. "It was a family friend that I was not able to attend. That is why I was watching the video feed of it."

"Is it my fault that you couldn't go? I mean the accident?" Lulu asked. "You were taking care of me instead of mourning your friend?"

Valentin reached across the table, caressing Lulu's wrist. "Don't worry about it; you are most important to me. I would do anything to keep you safe."

"Where are we exactly?" Lulu nodded to the massive ocean. "I would like to know what part of the world we are at."

Valentin smiled. "Of course you would like to know, anyone would."

Valentin was thankful for the interruption when the servant came back with their breakfast. He set the plates in front of them while another servant came with the glass or orange juice and cups of coffee.

"Thank you," Lulu stated. "This looks really great."

"It does. I need to go fly to another island for a meeting this afternoon; I won't be back until later this evening. I wouldn't go if it weren't important. You can have the run of the house if you want. Go for a walk on the beach. I have a library here with all the books you can imagine to read."

"You are leaving me here alone?" Lulu asked as she took a sip of her orange juice.

"I have a few hours before I have to leave," Valentin pointed out. "It's really important that I go to this meeting. You will be alright the staff will take really good care of you. That is what they are here for."

Lulu finished her eggs and drained the rest of her juice. "How much time do you have?"

Valentin checked his watch. "I have a few hours before I leave, why?"

"Let's go for a walk on the beach."

After the burial at the cemetery, most of the people that attended Lulu's funeral reassembled at the Haunted Star where they celebrated Lulu's life. Everyone shared funny stories about her for the reception.

Dante sat at the bar watching the activities he didn't notice that Sonny came in and sat down next her. "I'm so sorry son, I should have put some guys on her, and she was under my protection."

"It's not your fault, Sonny. It was whoever ordered the hit on Johnny. They are to blame. God help whoever that was because if their identity is ever found out between her brothers and Luke that person wouldn't live long enough to see the next sunrise." Dante said.

"They were always very protective with Lulu in life I shouldn't see why her death wouldn't be the same."

Dante watched as Monica pulled Nikolas to the corner of the casino. They looked like they were in deep conversation. "If you excuse me I need to pay my respects to Nikolas."

Dante slowly made his way to Monica and Nikolas. "Hey I saw you guys talking, what is up? Did you get the DNA results back in?"

Monica shook her head. "Not yet, but they are running the test while we speak. We should get the results back in a few days. I don't want the family to get their hopes up only to have it dashed."

"You think Lulu died in the bombing, don't you?" Dante asked.

Monica shook her head. "I am waiting for the test results to come in before I give my final answer. I loved Lulu. She was a part of my family. If the DNA does not match, I will do all in my power to help you find her."

"I got that covered. My men are waiting on standby to look all over the world to find her," Nikolas said.

"The world is a big place, how would you begin to look?" Dante asked.

"You underestimate me, Dante. I can get anything done for a price," Nikolas said. "Money is no object when it comes to find my baby sister."

After the walk on the beach Lulu showered and changed and met Valentin for some lunch before he left to go to his meeting. She could not shake the feelings she had when she was watching the funeral and saw the good looking Italian man that was walking behind the coffin. It was like she has seen him before. Clearly as much as he tried to distract her, Valentin was keeping things from her. It started with the accident that he claimed that they were in that turned to a car fire that he has no injuries for. Something was not gelling to her. She needed to keep her suspicions to herself because after all they were in an island in the middle of the ocean.

"What you are not hungry?" Valentin asked as he watched Lulu poke at her food on her plate with a fork. "We must have walked a few miles on the beach."

Lulu stopped poking her food and sat back. "I was just thinking, if we were in a car accident, why was I the only one that got hurt? You don't have a scratch on you while I have a head injury that affected my memory I have all sorts of busies, and I have burns. What exactly happened? I wasn't in a car accident at all was I?"

"I hope that I wouldn't have to tell you this," Valentin began. "It wasn't a car accident. It was a car bomb; one of my enemies planted it in the car to kill me. You borrowed the car that day. I followed you out there, thankfully you were still far enough from the car when you pressed the unlock button but not far enough, the force of the blast sent you flying backwards that is when you hit your head. The burns are pretty much self-explained."

Lulu stared at her food, letting what Valentin sink in. "Do you know who did this?" she demanded.

"My men are working on it. Believe me Lulu, once I find out who did this to you, I am going to make them pay," Valentin vowed. "You were in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Is that what your meeting is about?" Lulu asked. "Meeting with people that will help you find out what happened?"

"Exactly." Valentin rose from his seat. "I better get going. I will be back soon. Hopefully I will have some information to share."

Valentin crossed over to her side of the table and bent to kiss the top of her head. The moment that his lips touched her, Lulu had a memory flash of the man she saw following the coffin. As soon as it came, the memory went away.

"What is it?" Valentin asked, noticing Lulu's change in body language. "Did you remember something?"

He seemed anxious to see if she recalled anything, a little too anxious.

"I just had a memory flash of the explosion. It kind of frightened me," Lulu lied.

Valentin took her hand, squeezing it, "That is what the doctor said that you are going to have memory flashes. Don't let them frighten you. I will be back as soon as I can. If you need anything pick up the phone and tell the servants they will give you whatever you want."

He left her to finish up her lunch. Valentin saw one of his men lurking in the hallway. "If she remembers anything else, get the doctor have him give her something that won't harm the baby. Write down what she remembers and let me have the copy of it so I can deal with it later."

"Yes, sir," his lackey said.

"Whatever she does do not lay a finger on her. If you or anyone else does you are going to pay for it with your life."

His lackey agreed and went to tell the rest of the staff. Valentin looked at Lulu as she turned her attention to the surf outside. Something stirred inside of him. Something that he had not felt for a long time, it seemed to him even though that Lulu only been with him for a couple of days he was developing feelings for her. He also wished that she will never regain any of her memories of her past and stay and have a future with him.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: More Questions than Answers….**

Valentin arrived at the island compound that was a quick forty-five minute from the island that he was staying with Lulu. The greatroom was set up like a tech center. One of his minions sat behind the desk looking at all of the computer screens. "So what do we have?" Valentin demanded.

"Mr. Cassadine, you are here!" the tech rose to his feet.

"Nathan I am paying you a considerable amount of money to keep me up to date on things. Me being here should not effect you in anyway. Good job on the feed of the funeral by the way. The reception was crystal clear."

"Glad that I can be of service sir, I have to be careful. Sonny has a computer genius that is working for him. I cannot leave a trail for him to follow. That is why the information has been lacking for the last day or two."

"Corinthos is the reason why Lulu is like this. I may have to thank him personally to have the youngest of Luke Spencer at my complete mercy."

Nathan nodded. "I have not located Mr. Spencer yet. If its any consolation Sonny hasn't found him either."

"I doubt that he is trying hard to find Luke, he knew about Sonny's plans for the car bomb. Luke is going to kill Sonny with his bare hands when he finds out," Valentin stated.

Lulu watched as Valentin private plane took off and disappeared over the horizon. It was a perfect time to go exploring that house without his present. Maybe she will get some of questions that have been nagging her since she watched the funeral of a person that Valentin claimed was a good friend. All the time Lulu closed her eyes she saw the Italian man from the funeral. He began to haunt her dreams. She needed to find out who he really was.

The first place she needed to check was Valentin's office. She glanced into the hallway, no one was there. Lulu tried the doorknob it was locked. She didn't know what made her think of it she reached for a hairpin that was keeping her bangs out of her eyes. She knelt before the lock sticking the bobby pin inside. Lulu thought it was going to be harder than it actually was; she easily picked the lock to Valentin's office.

The door swung open and she carefully stepped inside. She had no idea what she was looking for when she approached Valentin's desk. She would know it when she saw it. The office was extremely clean; everything seemed to have their own place. Lulu took a quick study of the room, memorizing all the contents and their proper place.

Lulu headed to the desk. There was nothing on the desk other than a calendar and a small plant. No pictures of them as a couple. That struck her as odd, if they were a couple and she severed all ties to her family because they didn't approve her relationship.

She opened one of the side drawers of the desk. There was a thick unlabeled file folder that was on top. It took both of her hands to lift it out of the drawer. She lifted the cover and gasped in shock.

Dante took the launch over to Spoon Island. He hoped that Nikolas had some coffee for him; he did not sleep at all the night before. He was too wound up knowing that the lab had the blood samples and the results were going to be ready soon.

He had to know. He just had to. Dante loved Lulu with all of his heart. Hell, she had his heart the moment he saw her at Jake's.

The tiny boat made it to the docks on Spoon Island and Dante made a mad dash to the house where Nikolas and Monica were both waiting for him.

"You have the results of the DNA test?" Dante asked breathlessly.

Nikolas looked down at the sealed envelope in his hand. "Yeah."

"They came first thing this morning. I called Nikolas then he called you," Monica said.

"Should we call Lucky or something?" Dante said. "He would like to know I Lulu is his sister too."

"Not until we are absolutely sure," Monica said. "I didn't want to get Edward's hopes up; I don't think he could take it if…"

Nikolas handed Dante the envelope. "Care to do the honors Dante?"

The file contained black and white photographs of her. She was alone at a table reading a book and drinking a cup of coffee, in the other one she looked to be in a rush on a dock of some sorts carrying many shopping bags, the next one she was at a bar playing a game of pool by herself, the last photograph truly made her wonder, it was on her and the Italian man that haunted her dreams. The way he was looking at her and the way she was looking like him they were more than friends.

Lulu flipped through the rest of the photographs, the majority of her and the mystery man. They were playing pool in a bar. A few of the photographs had her and him making out in several different locations. The next few looked like they were taken by a telephoto lens of her and the man asleep in bed. The last few picture looked like it was taken on a baseball diamond. She was up at bat, catching a ball, and the last ones was her of her, three men who looked to be a few years older than she was, and three young boys. It looked to her to be a family photograph.

At the corner of the last picture something caught her eye. It was time and date stamp. Then it hit her, she had no idea what the date was. She looked down on Valentin's desk; thank God that he put an X through the dates that already passed. She could determine what date it was rather easily. It was the last week of August. She flipped through the photographs as if it were a flipbook. The dates on the photographs went back months. The one of the guy and Lulu playing pool went back more than a year.

For some reason Valentin had someone watch her. They have been watching her for a long time. She placed the photographs back in a pile and went through the rest of the file.

She found some handwritten notes using military time. She picked a random date in the margin and read what happened. " '_Subject at Kelly's from 08:00 to 08:15. Subject went to Crimson from 08:30 to 17:00. Subject met with DF at his place from 16:00 until 06:00 the following morning.'_ "

"Who the hell is DF and what the hell is Valentin doing hiring a person to follow me like this?" she wondered aloud.

Dante ripped open the envelope, pulling out the sheet of paper. He looked at it. He could not make head or tails of what was written on the sheet. He handed it to Monica. "It's written in doctor. Can you tell us what it says?"

Monica took the paper. "You know that these tests are ninety-nine point nine-nine percent accurate."

Dante and Nikolas nodded.

Monica scanned the paper. "Well there is no doubt after this test. Nikolas you were right. The body that we buried yesterday is not your sister. Lulu maybe still alive and is out there somewhere."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: **

There were pages and pages of the handwritten notes of her movements. Most of them were about her and 'DF'. Lulu was bond and determined to find out who this DF person was and why she was spending all her time with him when Valentin said that they were an item for a long time.

Lulu stopped to wonder what else was Valentin lying to her about?

A sound from out in the hallway made her jump. She carefully placed the contents of the folder back in and placed the folder back in the drawer. The noise outside got closer to the door of Valentin's office. Lulu dove underneath the desk just as the door opened.

* * *

"If the body isn't Lulu, who is it that we buried yesterday?" Dante asked. "Some one is missing a family member and they don't know what happened to her. I need to check missing persons as soon as possible."

Monica shrugged. "I don't know who the body we buried is. All this test says that the person that was found in the car and brought to the morgue was not Lesley Lu Spencer."

"We need to find her, she could be anywhere," Dante said. "Do you know anyone that would have the capability to pull off something like this?"

"There is Helena but she promised that she will never harm her," Nikolas stated. "She is a Spencer with Cassadine blood. That and the entire population of Port Charles will hunt her down to torches and pitchforks if she ever harmed a hair on Lulu's head."

"You know better than to trust what Helena says. She kidnapped your son," Monica pointed out.

"Then there is a possibility that she is behind this," Dante said. "We need to tell everyone that she might be alive. They need to know."

"You might want Spinelli to help. He might be able to tap in the video feeds of the surrounding buildings," Nikolas said. "He may hate you, Dante but he cares deeply about Lulu. He will help no matter what. There is Sonny too, he loves Lulu like a daughter he will do anything to find her."

"I'll take care of calling everyone, just be at the mansion in two hours," Monica said. "Tracy and Edward will be relieved. Edward isn't taking it very well. He loved Lulu like she was his own granddaughter. He will be over the moon and may hire the best private eyes out there to find Lulu."

* * *

Lulu hid under the desk, she saw a pair of black shoes enter the office. "What are you doing in here?" a voice from the hallway called.

"Cleaning the office, madam," the housekeeper said.

"You know as well as I do that Mr. Valentin does not want anyone in this room when he is away. He will be upset; you really don't want to see him upset."

The footsteps retreated back into the hallway. Lulu waited for a few minutes to make sure that the person had left. She got out from behind the desk. She sighed heavily. "That was a close call!"

Lulu went to the door, pressed her ear to it. She didn't hear anything. She opened the door and went out into the empty hallway. She wondered if she should confront Valentin what she found or not. After a minute of weighing her options, Lulu thought that it would be best that she keep everything to herself including her memory flashes.

After what she found, she was unsure if Valentin was being truthful with her. She wondered if he said anything that was true or just lies. If it were just lies, what did he have plan for her?

* * *

"Why are we all here?" Ethan whined as Alice handed him a cup of coffee. "I mean I love you guys but the last time we were all together we were remembering my little sister."

"I don't know, I just got a call that said that my presence is required here," Lucky said.

"Monica wanted us to be there," Edward muttered. "I wonder why."

"Sorry to keep you all waiting." Monica came in the living room with Nikolas and Dante at his feet. "Do you want to begin, Nikolas?"

"Sure," Nikolas cleared his throat. "I really didn't want to keep this from everyone but, I had my suspicions that Lulu was not in the car when it exploded. It was too neat for me; it brought back memories from what happened to Lucky all those years ago. So I had Monica compare my bone marrow to the bone marrow that was found in the body in the car. We just got the result back, which is why you are all here."

"Come off it mate," Ethan said. "If the bone marrow matched we wouldn't be here, you would let us keep thinking that Lulu was in that car that exploded… unless…"

"There was no match. The body in the morgue was not Lulu." Nikolas handed the results to Lucky.

"If Lulu wasn't in the car, who was?" Ethan asked. "Where is our sister?"

"I don't know," Nikolas said. "I have my people scouring the four corners of the planet looking for her."

"I will have my people on it too!" Edward announced. "Who knows who has that little girl and what they are doing to her."

* * *

Lulu went back to her bedroom, still unsure what to make of the months of surveillance that Valentin had on her. What was it for? Who was 'DF' she knew he must have been the guy in the photographs and the first person following the coffin. Was DF her boyfriend before Valentin? What was the real reason that Valentin was hated by her family. If she wanted to get the answers she needs Lulu must play Valentin. She needs to ask more questions about their 'relationship' and see what he has to say for himself.

There was a knock at her door, she went to answer it. A maid was on the other end with a tray of food. "Good afternoon, Ms. Lulu, Mr. Cassadine wanted me to bring you some food."

"Thank you." Lulu opened the door wider to let her in. "Ah Stella I have a question, how long have you worked for Valentin? I mean that you must have seen our relationship bloom from nothing to what it is today."

Stella the older maid smiled as she set down the tray on the small table in Lulu's room. "Ah yes, I remember. The day the Valentin met you, he spilled coffee all over you and then he took you out for dinner after he bought out a store to replace the clothes he had ruined. You weren't to receptive to him because of the bad break up you had with your pervious boyfriend. You caught him in bed with another woman the night that you met Valentin.

"It took him a few weeks to put a smile back on your face let alone make you laugh. He was very patient with you. Your families disapproved of him from the get go. They thought he, a much older man was taking advantage of you due to your emotional state. But I could tell that he had fallen in love with you. He waited until you were ready before you two were intimate. When you told him that you were pregnant he was over the moon. He is going to be such a good father. You are lucky to find a man like him."

Lulu looked at the other woman not believing a word she was saying. It sounded rehearsed to her. It was like she had to memorize a script of some sort if she had asked her some questions.

Instead she put a smile on her face. "I am lucky aren't I? To find a man like Valentin that loves me the way he does."

* * *

Dante followed Lucky back to the PCPD. Lucky went down the hallway and returned a few minutes later with a pile of files. "These are the open missing persons cases in the tri-state area." Lucky sat down at his desk, he handed Dante half of them.

"Do really think the person that was identified as Lulu is going to be in these files?" Dante asked. "Whoever planned this must have used a person what no one would miss for this to work."

Lucky was too busy sorting the files. "Old lady, male,"

"Lucky," Dante began.

"Wait , here is something. It's a woman that is Lulu's age and size." Lucky looked at the picture that was attached to the file. "She looks like Lulu as well."

"Who reported her missing?" Dante asked.

"Her mother did a few days after the explosion. According to the report, she waited a few days because it seemed that her daughter a one Mindy Lewis fell into the wrong crowd. She has a rap sheet, possession and prostitution to name a few. No wonder Mindy fell through the cracks no one looks for a missing prostitute. I hate to admit that as a law enforcement officer but it is true. If a hooker goes missing or someone like Lulu does at the same time, the department will go look for someone like Lulu."

"When was the last time she seen or spoke to her daughter?" Dante asked.

"A few weeks but from the report that was normal, but when Mindy failed to show for a rearranged family dinner was when her mother began to worry about her and then reported her missing," Lucky read the file. "We need to get blood sample from the mother to be sure that it is Mindy Lewis buried in Lulu's grave."

"I will have a warrant to exhume Lulu's grave. I just need Nikolas' or Ethan's permission to do so. I can't give my permission it would be a conflict of interest."

"Where do I sign?" Nikolas asked as he approached them. "I want to find Lulu as bad as you two."

Lucky picked up the phone. "I am calling in for the warrant now. If all goes well the body will be exhumed first thing in the morning then we will know who is really buried in Lulu's grave."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10:**

As soon as Valentin returned, Stella found him in the kitchen as he was telling the chef to prepare Lulu a special dinner. "Sir, she is asking questions about your relationship."

"Did you tell her what we discussed?" Valentin asked.

"Yes I did. I think she believed me. I told her that her last boyfriend had cheated on her and then she met you."

"Good. I will go see her now, is she in her room?" Valentin asked.

"She is. The guards had said she hasn't left."

"Good I am going up there. See to it that we are not disturbed."

* * *

After they finished at the police station, they returned to Dante's loft. "The exhumation is going to happen first thing in the morning," Lucky said.

"Then we will know for sure," Nikolas said. "Why are we here I mean there is something else that we have to be doing or something."

"Someone is coming to help us. He should be here any moment."

As if on cue, the elevator doors opened up and Spinelli came out. "Greetings to the loved ones of the Blonde One, why did you request the presence of the Jackal the Assassin of Cyber Space this late hour?"

"I take it that you have not heard the news yet," Lucky said.

"What news? Is there any information on the people that were responsible for the bombing?" Spinelli asked.

"On a hunch, I had the body's bone marrow tested against mine," Nikolas asked. "We didn't get the results until today."

"What did the results say?" Spinelli asked.

"That the body that we buried yesterday was not Lulu's. We don't know who is in the grave," Dante said.

Spinelli whipped out his trusty computer and set it on the coffee table. "I will assist in anything that would help us find the Blonde One and bring her back home safely! She is the Jackal's best friend."

"We were hoping that you were going to say that. Start with the surveillance videos from the buildings near by the night of the explosion," Dante said. "Hopefully there is something there. I don't want to waste time getting a warrant. The more time we waste the more time the person who has Lulu can hurt her."

* * *

Valentin knocked at Lulu's door and entered. She was sitting on a chair on the balcony watching the waves crash on shore. "I am back," he announced.

"How did your meeting go?" Lulu asked over her shoulder.

"It went very well. I am glad it is over because I can spend more time with you. Have you decided what you want to do this evening?" Valentin joined her on the balcony.

"I am getting a little cabin fever being cooped up in this house and on this island. Is there a place nearby that we could go walk around and soak in the sights?" Lulu asked.

Valentin panicked. If Lulu wanted to leave the island and go to the mainland, there had to be arrangements made. She could not be seen on any camera. No one needed to know that she was really alive.

"It might be dangerous right now, my enemies promised me that they will go after things that are important to me to get back at me. They already almost blew up in the car and caused you to lose your memory. I don't want anything to happen to you, Lulu."

"I can put on a dark wig, sunglasses, and a baseball hat or something. That could hide my identity. I want to go someone where else other than this island. Can you please do that for me, please Valentin?" Lulu asked.

Valentin sighed. He didn't want to disappoint Lulu. Then again he didn't want any of her friends or family to find out that she was alive. "We'll go but we are going to take all sorts of precautions, okay?"

"Okay I can deal with that."

* * *

Spinelli easily hacked into the cameras of the surrounding buildings. "This one has a great view of the parking lot. Look there is Fair Lulu pulling into her parking spot." He pointed to the screen.

"Speed it up until you see Johnny blocking her in," Nikolas said.

Spinelli did what he was told. "There is the Mob Prince. I am going to fast forward until I see something."

The images on the screen sped up until something caught Lucky's eye. "Wait go back. There stop and play it back."

Spinelli played the scene back. A tall man dressed all in black went to Johnny's car, drawled underneath it, and then disappeared into the night. "That is most defiantly the degenerate that planted the bomb that took our Fair Lulu away from us."

"Can you get a face?" Lucky asked. "There might be a reflection in of the cars."

"No, I cannot Good Detective Spencer," Spinelli said. "I failed."

"Just keep the video playing until Lulu leaves Jake's. Hopefully we will get a look at the person that took her and stashed the body into the car." Dante's were on the screen, not moving.

"As you wish." Spinelli typed a few keys. "Wait there is something. There is Lulu she comes out and sees her car is blocked in and goes back inside."

Someone dressed all in black a little taller and better built emerged from the shadows. Then the cameras went to snow just as Lulu reappeared on the screen.

"Damn it!" Dante shouted. "Our lead is shot to hell. We don't even have a good look of that guy! We don't know who he is! I mean this person went through a lot of trouble to get to Lulu. I mean he had to be watching her for awhile. He had to stay far enough away for her not to notice she was being followed."

"We had to get her out of town somehow," Nikolas said.

"On it looking for…" Spinelli trailed off. "Whoa this is perplexing to say the least…"

"Can someone translate that?" Dante asked. "I don't speak Spinelli."

"It means he got something," Lucky explained. "What do you have?"

"The small airport just outside of town had a private jet land in the early morning hours the day of the explosion and it left about twenty minutes after the bombing. There was no flight plan filed."

"It's an airport there must be some cameras there, right?" Dante asked.

"Yes it's likely that it does but Deceptive Detective, this airport caters to the unsavory crowd. It might not have the highest quality of equipment." Spinelli stated.

"I don't care, look!" Dante shouted. "There must be something there!"

After a few more key strokes, something appeared on Spinelli's computer screen. "Oh dear god."

From his vantage point, Dante should see the man dressed all in black carry an unconscious person with long blond hair in his arms. Dante felt his heart swell, even though he was not able to see her face he knew that was Lulu. "She is hurt but other than that she..."

* * *

After he left Lulu's room, Valentin met up with Helena in his office. "She wants to visit another island. She is sick of being cooped up in his house," he said to her.

"I know I overheard you talk to her. It's getting worked out. You need to keep her from reading the newspapers the story of the bombing and her demise actually made the news out here. You must keep her in disguise the entire time she is in public."

"I had one of my men buying her a black wig and several other things. Her identity will be concealed. No one will know who she is," Valentin explained.

"I hate to say this, Valentin but it seems to me that you don't want her to go anywhere. You want her to spend all her time with you, don't you? It seems to me that you have fallen for the blonde waif. You are just like your Uncles Stravos and Stefan. He wanted Lulu's mother for himself so he took her, " Helena warned. "History is repeating itself."

"I am nothing like Stravos or Stefan. I wanted revenge against the Spencers and I got it with Lulu and her unborn child. It is going to drive her father insane to think his baby girl had a baby with his enemy."

"That is the second time you said that, are you trying to convince me or yourself?" Helena asked.

Lulu held on to Valentin's arm as they navigated the crowded marketplace full of vendors and tourists. They blended in so well. If anyone noticed them they would have thought that they were on their honeymoon. Lulu had a waist length black wig, a big floppy straw hat, and a big pair of sunglasses. She was wearing a bright green sundress and a pair of platform sandals. Valentin thought that she looked beautiful and told her so. He even bought her a large bouquet of red roses which he carried with his free hand,

"Thank you for the complement and this." She gestured around her. "Not that don't like your island its get rather lonely when you leave for business."

"Well then I will have my business come to me then." Valentin wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer. "I hate being away from you." He kissed her lightly on her lips.

As his lips touched her, Lulu had another memory flash of the mystery man. They were ice-skating on a frozen pond. They were laughing, trying to stay balanced on the thin piece of metal of the skates. He pretended to fall and hurt himself. When she went to tend to him, he greeted her with a passionate kiss. The kiss was some much more passionate than the kisses that Valentin was giving her.

"Lulu?" He looked intently at her. "Are you okay?"

She snapped back into reality. "Sorry."

"Did you remember something?" Valentin asked. "If you did you can tell me you know."

Like hell she will, Lulu thought. "No I thought I did. It was nothing. Come on!" She tugged on his hand. "Let's go exploring on this island!"

Valentin clasped her hand in his. "There is a really nice bistro just off the beaten path with killer sea bass. Let's go check it out."

* * *

"Think!" Dante shouted. "There has to be someone out there that would want to hurt Lulu! You are a freaking Cassadine! You have enemies all over the world! I bet you can think of over fifty people offhand that would want to cause you harm!"

"Shouting at us is not going to make us think harder!" Lucky pointed out.

"I am a Cassadine and Lulu is a Spencer. There is someone that wants to harm us both. He is so lethal that even Helena is afraid of him," Nikolas began. "Lulu is the perfect target for him to go after she is his enemies only daughter and my little sister."

"Who?" Dante demanded.

"My Grandfather's bastard son Valentin Cassadine."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11:**

Valentin and Lulu dined on an outdoor patio of the restaurant. They were the only people on the patio. Valentin must have slipped the matre'd some money when we went to seat them. She tried to remove her hat and sunglasses but Valentin told her to keep them on because it made her most mysterious.

"Enjoying the trip?" Valentin asked her as he poured more non-alcoholic white wine in her glass.

"I am." Lulu smiled. "Can we do this at least once a week? I mean get out of the house and have a fancy dinner?"

"We can have a fancy dinner back at home," Valentin protested. "The chef can make you whatever you want and when you want it. All you have to do is pick up a the phone in your room and order whatever your heart desires."

"That is different than this," Lulu pointed out. "For one thing there are more people around if you didn't buy out the entire section on the patio. All the people I see are you and your staff. I feel like a bird in a gilded cage. I need to get of the house from time to time."

Valentin sighed. If he kept her away from the other islands she might get suspicious about things and why she was really with him. The last thing he wanted to do was trigger a memory of some sort. She will not buy the stories of his enemies for much longer.

"Okay but you are not to venture here by yourself, okay? I am not being possessive here, Lulu. I have a lot of enemies all around the world you need to be in disguise. Can you handle that?"

Lulu nodded. If it meant that she was in civilization she would cut her hair off and dye it green. "Yes I can. So do we have a deal?" She held out her hand. "We can come here once a week as long as I am in a disguise of some sort?"

Valentin shook her hand. "Deal."

* * *

"What do you have on Valentin Cassadine?" Lucky asked Spinelli. "I mean I know he kidnapped Dad after Helena kidnapped him, then Lulu and Ethan had to go to Greece to rescue him."

Spinelli frantically typed away on his computer. "There is a photograph of Valentin Cassadine. He seems to be an international playboy as well as a coldblooded psychopath. There is a laundry list of woman that he dated…" he trailed off.

"What is it?" Dante asked.

"I made a program that would bring up anything and everything when Valentin Cassadine's name is mentioned. There is an online news article that just was published with photographs."

"And?" Nikolas asked.

Spinelli turned the screen to face them. For the first time they knew what Valentin looked like. The woman at his side was wearing a big floppy straw hat, had a waist length black hair, and a big pair of sunglasses. Even is disguise all of them knew that the woman was Lulu. Spinelli had translated the page. The title of article said: "Has the International Play Boy Settled Down? Who's the Mystery Woman?"

"I think that we know the identity of the mystery woman," Spinelli said softly. "It' Fair Lulu."

Dante stared at the picture, he noticed something on it. "Spinelli zoom in on Lulu's arms."

"What do you see?" Spinelli asked as he did what he was told.

"There! It's bandages. She was hurt in the explosion. Maybe she even hit her head and lost her memory somehow because the Lulu we all know and love will not bee seen with Valentin if she knew who he really was." Dante explained.

"He is using Lulu's memory loss to his advantage," Nikolas said. "Just like Helena did with Lucky."

"Helena brainwashed me, there is a difference. WE need to find her and soon. Where is that paper from?" Lucky replied.

"Fiji. The island of Viti Levu to be exact. It has the international airport and the capital city of Suva. That is where this paper is from." Spinelli said. "There are like over three hundred islands in the Fiji Islands. Over one hundred of said islands are inhabited. That leaves two hundred islands uninhabited. It's a perfect place to hide in the open."

"We need to go to Fiji," Dante said. "We need to get there now."

"I'll call the pilot and have him ready the jet," Nikolas said. "We will be in the air within the hour."

* * *

They enjoyed their dinner and it was time for dessert. The waiter cleared away their plated and refilled their wineglasses. The sun was beginning to sink over the horizon where the sky met the sea. The color of the sky was a brilliant shade of red.

"That was a great meal!" Lulu exclaimed as the waiter left. "I can't wait to try everything on the menu when we come here once a week."

"I am glad to see you happy," Valentin said. "If I knew that you'd be this happy I would have brought you here a long time ago."

Lulu smiled as the waiter returned with their dessert. Apple pie for Lulu and something that resembled baked Alaska for Valentin. "Apple pie is your favorite. We shared a piece on our first date; you mentioned that it was your favorite."

Lulu knew deep down what Valentin was saying was a complete lie. She picked up her fork and took a bite of the pie. Another memory flashed in her mind. She and the mystery man were on a hayride of some sort. She must have gotten cold because the man wrapped a wool blanket around them. He also produced a thermos that had apple cider in it. They shared a cup as they were handed a plate of fresh baked with a lot of whipped cream. She ended up getting some whipped cream on her upper lip. The mystery man gently licked away the whipped cream and pulled her into a passionate kiss.

"What?" Valentin looked concerned. "Did you remember something? If you did you can tell me."

Lulu shook her head. "I thought I did. There was a quick flash and then it was gone. I couldn't tell what it was."

"You shouldn't stress yourself out. Your memories will come back to you when it can. I don't want you to overdo it, Lulu."

Lulu nodded as she took another forkful of apple pie. Another memory filled her head, this time she and the mystery man were dressed to the nines in a back of a limo heavily making out.

If according to Stella this man hurt her so bad, why was she remembering all the good things and not the bad things?

* * *

All of Lulu's brothers, Spinelli, and Dante piled into Nikolas' jet and buckled in. "It's an over twenty hour flight plus we are going to gain a day because we are crossing the International Dateline basically we are loosing two whole days. Get some sleep then we will strategize when we are fully rested," Nikolas said as the jet barreled down the runway.

Dante looked out of the window as the jet gained altitude. He reached in his pocket; his fingers squeezed the jewelry box that never left his pocket. He relished the day that he was going to ask her the most important question a man can ask a woman.

* * *

Sorry for the wait! I hoped you liked the update! :D


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12:**

Lulu returned to her room after they got back from their dinner on the mainland. Valentin went to his office where a very pissed out Helena was waiting for him. "You took Lulu off the island?" she demanded.

"Relax Helena, she was in disguise. Nobody would even know it was her."

"Is this going to be a thing? You taking her off the island?"

"I just cannot say she is not to leave the island. She will get suspicious!" Valentin said. "The fact that I told her I had all sorts of enemies and she needs to be in disguise when she is in public already raised a red flag. She is a Spencer; I need to keep her curiosity at bay."

Lulu went out on the balcony in her room. It was dark out and all the stars were out, shining down. Another memory flash came to her. She and the mystery man were laying on top of a picnic table watching the night sky. He was pointing up at the sky, pointing out constellations.

As quick as it came, the memory left her.

Lulu was glad that she was able to leave the island even though it was in disguise. The next time she left the island with Valentin she needed to get a message out to someone and get that message to her family to see if what Valentin was saying about her family was the truth.

* * *

Dante woke up to find himself still on the plane. He stretched, looked around the three brothers were asleep. Spinelli was on his laptop drinking a can of orange soda and a bag of BBQ chips. "Morning, I think, Detective," he greeted.

"How long have I been out?" he asked walked over to Spinelli.

"About five hours. We still have fifteen hours left in our flight. The brothers are still asleep," Spinelli said, nodding to everyone else. "I am glad that the Dark Prince has a great wi-fi connection on the plane I am getting a lot of work done."

"Find anything else?" Dante asked.

Spinelli nodded. "Yes. I am afraid it is not good news. Valentin is a dangerous dude. The fact that he has Lulu…"

"Don't even go there, Spinelli," Dante said. "We are going to get her back."

"Let's hope so, because what I found about him says he is capable of many, many bad things. The sooner we get him away the better."

"How bad?" Dante asked.

"You are better off not knowing, Dante," said Spinelli. "If you or Lulu's over-protective brothers knew… they will kill Valentin with their bare hands and not think twice about it."

* * *

Lulu changed into an over-sized t-shirt after she took a long shower, when she returned back into her bedroom, Valentin was sitting on the edge of her bed. "Did you enjoy yourself today?"

Lulu nodded. She didn't want to tip off Valentin on how uncomfortable he was making her feel. "I did. I am glad that we are making this a weekly thing. I need to get out of this house."

"You must tired. I am going to let you get some rest." He stood up and brushed his lips on hers. "I'll see you in the morning, sweet dreams Lulu."

"Good night, Valentin, see you in the morning."

She watched him leave her room. When the door shut behind him, Lulu wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Valentin was trying too hard to get her on his side. She just wanted to know why.

* * *

For the rest of the flight, Dante looked out of the window of the jet. He watched as the darkness became light in front of him. He watched how light become darkness again. He yawned as he sipped a cup of coffee. Another day he would be ecstatic that he was a private jet going to an exotic location. He was trying to locate the woman that he loved with all of his heart.

"We are going to find her," Lucky said. "At least we didn't find out a year later that she is alive like everyone did with me."

"A lot could have happened in a year," Dante admitted. "A lot could happen in the few days that this punk had her. I really hope he is not doing anything to her."

* * *

Lulu was falling asleep when she heard footsteps, her door open, a small sliver of light come in from the hallway and landed on her bed. She pretended to be asleep when she heard the footsteps enter her room, the floorboards creaked. "Soon little Lasha I will get my revenge after all of these years."

Then the person turned around and left, shutting the door behind them.

The plane was taxiing down the runway on its way to the gate. Dante was tapping his foot impatiently. After almost a day in the air they had finally reached the South Pacific Island. As Spinelli pointed out earlier the Fiji Islands was a part of a chain of islands that numbered in the hundreds. Talk about looking for a needle in a haystack.

"Okay we are going to look where the picture was taken and work our way from there," Lucky announced.

Dante nodded. "Okay. Let's get Lulu back."

* * *

When Lulu came down for breakfast she decided to keep her late night visitor to herself. Lulu went out to the solarium to think about what happened the night before. Her visitor last night called her a name that sounded odd to her ears; the voice sent some shiver up her spine. Revenge? What was that all about?

"Good morning," Valentin greeted as he came in the room. "Did you sleep well?"

Lulu nodded. "Yeah, I did. I guess I wore myself out yesterday."

"I have business to attend today off the island. Can I trust that you will stay out of trouble while I am gone?" Valentin asked.

"Have I ever got into trouble while you were gone?" Lulu challenged. "Have fun on your business meeting."

"I rather be here with you but I need to work. How about we have a seaside picnic for dinner later? I will have the chef make all of your favorite foods."

If Valentin was off on a business meeting meant that Lulu would have more snoop in his office to see what else he was keeping from her. She just hoped that he would be gone longer this time.

"That sounds good, are you leaving soon?"

"As soon as we are done with breakfast I am going to leave."

* * *

Spinelli had his laptop out, he was trying to locating the place where the photograph of a disguised Lulu and Valentin was taken. It was in a busy market place. There was a small restaurant that was past a massive fountain that overlooked the sea.

"This looks like an out of the way place that your Demented Uncle might take Fair Lulu," Spinelli stated.

They went into the restaurant. "Let me do the talking," Nikolas said. "I can play the family card."

"We don't want to tip him off that we are on to him!" Dante hissed.

"I have this covered," Nikolas assured him.

"Table for five gentlemen?" a busty blond asked in English. "We have great specials today."

Dante cleared his throat and gave her a megawatt smile. "I heard that the infamous Valentin Cassadine came here the other day with a lady friend."

The hostess nodded. "That he did. Frankly I am surprised; he was such a ladies man. It looks to me that he finally settling down. He was so attentive to her. She is a lucky girl."

Nikolas cleared his throat. "Valentin is an old friend from boarding school. You don't know where I could find him do you? We lost contact and since he is in the area, I would like to get together and throw back a few brandies."

"All I know is that he has his own island south from here," the blond said. "Sorry, you can leave a note in case he comes back."

"Oh no, that is okay," Nikolas said. "I am going to be here for awhile. We are bond to run into each other here."

* * *

As soon as Valentin went to the other island compound, he was greeted by his terrified tech. "Sir someone on the mainland is asking questions about you."

* * *

Read and Review! :D


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13:**

"What do you mean that someone is asking questions about me?" Valentin demanded. "Who?"

The tech, Nathan shook his head. "I was unable to get a good look at their faces; there was some type of video interference with the surveillance cameras."

"Shit," Valentin muttered. "Where did they go before the cameras went out?"

"All over the capital city. They seem determined to find someone or something," the tech said.

Damn it, Valentin thought. He thought that he had covered all of his bases when he plucked Lulu from her life in Port Charles. Apparently that he must have over-looked something if people were in Fiji looking for him. He had to get back to his island and take Lulu away to another destination before whoever was looking for them found them.

"Pack. You are leaving in an hour. Be ready," Valentin barked, as he turned his heel and headed back to the helipad to head back home.

* * *

Lulu listened carefully at her door. She heard nothing so she ventured out in the hallway to Valentin's office. There had to be more information about her in the office. She just needed to find it. Carefully she tiptoed down the hallway. She tried the knob, like last time it was locked. She reached into her hair, removing a hairpin and worked on the lock. Like before, she easily picked the lock.

The door swung open silently and she stepped inside, shutting the door behind her. She went over to Valentin's desk. She opened the drawer that she look through a few days before to see if she had missed anything in her hast to hide when the unknown visitor came in. She found the file she was looking at; she opened it and went through all of the pictures again in case she had missed one of them. She stopped at the one with her and the mystery man in bed. Where was this photo taken? She wondered. It looked like it was from a telephoto lens. Why was Valentin watching her?

A shiver went up her spin.

Valentin was up to something Lulu was sure of it. The disguise she had to wear for them to go to the mainland was more of protecting him than protecting her. Lulu just needed to have proof. He didn't care if he was seen. He cared that she was seen.

The island and its compound was a just a fancy prison. Lulu just needed to find out why Valentin was keeping her here. The 'accident' she was in must have been his own doing and her losing her memory was all he needed. She only had Valentin's word for what happened.

She couldn't let him know that she suspected that she was here against her will if she was able to remember anything. If she had to she would stroke his ego as his fiancé if need be. Lulu shuttered to think that she created another life with someone that could be so mysterious. From the little of what she remembered about herself, Lulu couldn't picture herself being with someone like Valentin. The only that linked her to him was the baby.

Then she stopped. What if the baby that Valentin claimed she was carrying wasn't his after all? The baby had a good chance to be the mystery man's. He was in most of the pictures that was in the file. He might be even looking for her. If the mystery man was looking for her, that meant the disguise that she was wearing was indeed to protect Valentin and not her. If he was looking for her, that means that they might be leaving the island.

Lulu shut the file, placed in back in the drawer, and shut it. Lulu went over to the door, pressed her ear to it. She heard nothing. Lulu opened the door and raced down the hallway back into her room.

Lulu shut the door behind her and went into her bathroom. She locked the door behind her. She went to the shower put the hot water of full blast. Lulu then went to the sink and did the same thing.

She sat back and waited until the massive mirror above the sink fogged up. She placed her fingertip on it and wrote a message on it.

* * *

"That was a colossal waste of time," Lucky muttered as they left the restaurant. "WE know he was with Lulu. We just need to know where the hell he is. We can't go check every island here that is going to take a long ass time."

"We need to narrow it down some, can you do that Spinelli?" Dante asked. "What kind of stuff does a Russian and Greek Aristocrat need?"

All eyes turned on Nikolas. "So how does the other half live?" Ethan asked. "I mean I know how the Quatermains live but their money in a drop in the bucket compared to your families."

Spinelli readied his trusty laptop to put in the information that Nikoals provided into a search engine.

"The Cassadine name has a lot of clout. He needs a lot of things to keep him in the life style he is accustomed to," Nikolas began. "He would need a massive house with a lot of staff of maids, butlers, and cooks. That is not including ground keepers and other staff members. He also has to have a helipad to get to island to island. If he really wants to go all out he will have his own landing strip for private jets."

"Own landing strip?" Dante echoed. "Damn man. What else does he need?"

"He also will need the finest clothing. The same thing for Lulu, he might have sent someone out to buy her some clothing."

Dante cringed at the thought that Valentin was buying Lulu clothing item made him sick to his stomach. If he didn't buy them he told someone what to buy. If he ever got his hands on Valentin, God help him.

"And jewelry, a lot of jewelry. He would have gotten the best to impress Lulu," Nikolas said. "And maybe a doctor or a nurse because we don't know for sure Lulu was injured or not."

Spinelli typed away on his trusty laptop. "Ah HA! I found the needle!"

* * *

Valentin raced back into the house. He hollered to his staff to prepare his jet and pack up because they were on the next commercial flight out of there. He yelled to Stella to pack his things up. He took the stairs two at a time to get to Lulu's room. Without knocking he entered her room.

Lulu was on her bed reading a book, she looked up startled. "What is it,Valentin?" she asked, noticing his flushed appearance.

"How soon can you pack up the necessities? Whatever you forget we can get later. Be ready in thirty minutes."

Lulu closed her book, tossing it on her bed as se rose from it. "What the hell is going on, Valentin?"

"No time to explain, I can have Stella help you if you need her."

"No, I can pack myself. Can you tell me where we are going?" Lulu asked.

"No, I want it to be a surprise." Valentine turned to leave. "I will be back up here to help you carry the bags down."

"I'll start now."

Valentin then left her to pack. There was a large suitcase in her closet. She went to get it; she placed it on her bed. She back into the closet and pulled out clothing and placed in the suitcase.

She went to bathroom to get some of her things. She went to the mirror, she turned on the faucet on full blast when the mirror fogged up she added something to the bottom of the note she had written earlier.

* * *

"What do you have, Spinelli?" Dante asked.

"With all the things that Nikolas mentioned I was able triangulate where…"

"English PLEASE!" Lucky said.

Spinelli looked up from his screen.

"I know where the Demented Uncle took her."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14:**

Lulu was looking out of the plane's window as it reached cruising altitude. Something was bothering Valentin. The way that he barged into her room and demanded that she be ready to leave in thirty minutes left nothing to the imagination. He was running from something, it was beginning to scare her. Valentin was on his cell phone talking angrily in a foreign language to the person on the other end.

She had no idea where they were going, Lulu got up to stretch her legs and maybe make a trip to the galley to get something to eat. Valentin caught her by the wrist, steering her to the nearest chair. "Sit. There is no need for you to get up. What do you want, just name it and someone will bring it to you."

"I rather get it myself, Valentin," Lulu returned. "I have two free hands."

Valentin shook his head. "Nope, you are going to be my wife. If I have anything to say about it, you are not to lift a finger. You are not going have to work ever again."

"I was just going to get some juice," Lulu protested. "And maybe use the restroom. I am pregnant you know. The baby must be lying on my bladder or something."

With that last comment, Valentin let her pass. Rule one in the girl handbook was to talk about girly issues to a guy and they will get grossed out no matter what.

Lulu smiled to herself as she went into the tiny bathroom. Anything to get away from Valentin. She opened the faucet and splashed her face. She found a plush white towel and dried her face. She caught her reflection in the mirror, she looked tired.

Another memory flash hit her. She was in a bathroom cleaning off the steamed up mirror when the mystery man came up behind her only wearing a towel around his waist. He gently took the towel off that she was wearing and coaxed her back into the glass shower stall where he soaped her up again.

Lulu shook the memory from her head. All the memories that were coming back to her were of the guy from the funeral feed. Why was she remembering him and not Valentin? Then it hit her she was really being held against her will and she didn't even know it.

* * *

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Nikolas asked for the fifth time as his private helicopter landed on an island that only had a massive home.

Spinelli nodded. "Yeah, Oldest Brother of the Blond One, I uploaded all the information that you said that your Demented Uncle required to live and it came up with this place."

Lucky studied the landscape. "I don't like it. No one is out here. Surely the rotor of the helicopter would alert them to our presence. They should be guards with high-powered rifles taking target practice on us."

"Let's go find her," Dante said.

The house was deserted. There were dirty dishes in the sink; the refrigerator was fully stocked as well as the pantry. A pot of water was still on the stovetop. Lucky hover his hand over the top before he dipped a finger in the water.

"It's still warm," he announced. "We must have just missed them. Spread out, amnesia or not Lulu is a Spencer she would find some way to leave us a clue. And he might have forgotten something since he left in such a hurry. We just need to find it."

Dante went down the hallway the door to what looked like to be an office stood open. He went inside. The office was ransacked. Drawers were open or overturned on the floor. Papers were scattered the floor. Valentin must have left in a hurry.

He walked further into the office. Something stuck to the bottom of his shoe. He pulled it off, turning it over. "Oh my fucking God," he muttered to himself.

"What did you find?" Lucky asked as he poked his head into the office. "Nikolas and Ethan are checking out the second floor."

Dante held out what he found, it was a black and white surveillance photograph of him and Lulu outside Kelly's drinking coffee.

"That Son of a bitch! He had been watching her for a long time!" Lucky exclaimed. "Did you ever get the feeling that you were being watched?"

Dante shook his head. "No, I did not get that feeling at all."

"Do you have any idea how long ago this picture was taken?" Lucky studied the picture for any clues.

"A couple of months at least," Dante said.

"Are they any more pictures laying around?" Lucky gave the room a quick once over and didn't find anything.

"I haven't seen anything. If Valentin left in such a hurry he is bound to miss something," Dante said.

"Yo Mates! We need you up here!" Ethan shouted from upstairs.

Taking the photograph with them, they bounded into the hallway and up the stairs. Ethan and Nikolas were in a room that looked like a woman had lived in. "I think Lulu stayed in here," Nikolas said. "Look around, it's a massive room that the help wouldn't stay in. I highly doubt that Valentin would stay in a room this girly. Look around, it's decorated in all of Lulu's favorite colors."

Ethan came out of the walk-in closet. "The closet is also packed with stuff that she would wear too. I don't like this. That bloke must have been watching our sister for a long time."

"It's worse." Lucky handed Ethan the photograph. "There is photographic evidence that he's been watching her."

Dante rubbed his chin. "Lulu would have left us a clue, right? I mean…"

Spinelli came out of the attached bathroom. "I have discovered the communication that the Blond One left us."

He ushered them into the bathroom, he had the hot water from the shower and the sink going on full blast. Written in the mirror was a message that Lulu scrawled:

' _Hit head, don't remember much. Think that what he's telling me is lies. Leaving now, no idea where to_.'

"So she does have amnesia. But she is realizing whatever he's telling her isn't the truth. That is good," Nikolas said.

Dante punched the wall in frustration. "We were so damn close! Shit! This guy has connections all over the fucking world! We are never going to find her again!"

* * *

"We're here." Valentin gently nudged Lulu awake as the jet taxied down the runway.

Lulu yawned and rubbed her eyes. "Where are we?" She straightened on the sofa she fell asleep on. "How long I have been asleep?"

"A few hours," Valentin smiled. "It's a surprise. Come on, let's go. The house is being set up. It should be ready soon. Tomorrow we are going to see the doctor to see how our little guy or gal is doing."

When Valentin placed his hand on her stomach Lulu fought the urged to vomit. She did not like him touching her. Instead she smiled. "I would like that. It is too soon to find out what we are having is it?"

"You know I rather it be a surprise. It is one of the last of the mysteries out there," Valentin said.

Lulu agreed. "I rather be surprised as well. So you are not going to tell me where we are?"

"Nope I am not." Valentin helped her to her feet. "Let's go eat something. The villages here have the freshest seafood that I ever had."

Spinelli opened up his computer to find out the surrounding islands in the area. "Are we positive that the Demented Uncle didn't take her to one of the surrounding islands? There are hundreds of them!"

"Yes! We are! He is not going to stay in the same place twice," Nikolas said. "There are many, many islands on the South Pacific. He must have taken her somewhere there."

"Okay, where to?" Dante said as a map popped up on Spinelli's screen. "I mean there are thousands of islands out there. We don't have the man power to check out each and everyone."

"Let's think about it, the bloke is smart. We have to give him credit for that. He had been watching Lulu for months and no one caught on, even Lulu. He stays in the shadows. Being on this island far away from anything must have drove him nuts. Now I think that he is going to take her somewhere more populated so they could blend in," Ethan said.

"I like the way you are thinking…" Lucky said. "Too bad most of these islands are tourist locations. They can easily blend into the crowds there."

"I don't like this he is one step ahead of us. We need to find her before she fills her head with more lies. I know she thinks he's a load of horseshit from the message on the mirror, but I don't know the more time she spends with him… I think he is trying to get into her life so that he is that only person that she trusts. We need to find her before that happens!" Nikolas explained.

"Lulu is smart, she is going to find a way to get a message to us," Lucky stated. "If its not a message on a mirror its going to be something else."

* * *

Lulu entered the door of the massive beach house that Valenin had gotten for them. Unlike last time there were many other houses on the beach with them. That means more people are liable to see her than before. She just needed to make her impressions on them something that they will never forget.

* * *

A/N:: Sorry about the delay! I hope you liked it!


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15::

They were back on the jet. Nikolas came back to where Spinelli was sitting toiling away on his laptop. "The pilot would like to know where to fly to. Any idea where Valentin would take her?"

"This area of the Pacific is dotted with thousands and thousands of islands. Any one of them the Demented Uncle could have taken the Blond One," Spinelli explained. "But…"

"Hiding her on a private island wasn't working. Lulu probably craved the interaction of others. He maybe is going to take her to a more populated island. He's going to hide in plain sight," Dante said.

"Most of these islands are honeymoon destinations," Spinelli pointed out. "He could have her under the guise that they are newlyweds."

Dante cringed at that thought. He was the only person that he envisioned to Lulu to be married to. Hell, he still carried the ring with him in his pocket.

"Okay he's smart. He is not going to do anything that can be traced to him. That means he is not going to leave a paper trail. That means he is going to use cash from now on," Nikolas said. "See if that narrows it down some."

Spinelli typed away on his computer with the information that Nikolas provided.

* * *

Lulu went into her room which was right across the hall of Valentin's room. His proximity to her made her feel uneasy. She went out to the terrace of her bedroom. It overlooked turquoise lagoon. She was able to see out to sea in all directions. That no doubt was a selling point for Valentin, he would be able to see people coming.

Was that the reason they abruptly left the other island? She wondered to herself. Where were they now? All she knew that they were on his jet long enough for her to fall asleep. Then she thought back, Valentin gave her something to eat. She knew that she shouldn't have taken it but she did anyway. Whatever he gave her was drugged. She must have been out for a long time.

At least there was a silver lining, they were in civilization. If she needed she could get a message out to someone if she would just remember who to give it to.

"Are you all settled in?" Valentin asked as he entered her room.

Lulu looked at the shopping bags that littered the room. Apparently the staff went shopping for her but neglected to hang up anything. "I haven't gone through the bags yet but I am sure your people did a great job finding me stuff."

"Sorry about leaving so quickly. This is the best thing." Valentin joined her outside. "This is a breathtaking view, no? You can see the island for miles and miles. Have you seen water so blue?"

"No I have not," Lulu answered. "Where are we, Valentin?"

Valentin took a deep breath as if he didn't want to give up their location. "We are in Aitutaki."

"Aitutaki? Where in the world is Aitutaki?" Lulu asked.

"It's one of the Cook Islands," Valentin explained. "Don't worry, people won't bother us here at all."

That is what she was afraid of.

* * *

"There is a place; it's one of the Cook Islands. There are no credit card allowed there. Actually there are no ATM's at all on the island. All the transactions are done in cash or traveler's checks," Spinelli said.

"Which of the islands?" Lucky asked. "There are many islands."

"It's the island of Aitutaki. It's almost two thousand miles from Auckland, New Zealand," Spinelli explained. "In fact the nearest neighbors are American Samoa and Fiji but they are nearly twenty five hundred miles away. It's basically in the middle of nowhere. There is a triangular lagoon, no doubt that the Dastardly Uncle planned that so he could see every boat coming and going. He picked the perfect spot to take the Blond One."

"Shit. How far is it to the airport?"

"There is a small airport on the island. Again, Valentin might have his spies out there that would alert him when he show up," Spinelli said.

"How long will it be until we get there?" Dante asked.

"About fifteen hours," Spinelli said.

"I'll alert the pilot to our destination, "Nikolas said. "This time I hope that we would get Lulu back before Valentin finds out that we are on the island."

* * *

A/N: Sorry it was so short! I hoped you liked it anyway!


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16:**

Lulu awoke the next morning. It took her a moment to remember where she was. She glanced over to the side of the bed where the chaise lounge was. She breathed a sigh of relief that it was empty. Valentin must have spent the night in his own room rather than in hers.

She went to the bathroom to shower and change before she went down to breakfast. She really wanted to explore their new location. If she had to do it with Valentin it might be worth it.

"You are making me nervous," Helena said. "Leaving the other island like that. You picked a more populated place to reside! Someone is bound to see her! What are you going to do, lock her in her room so she won't venture outside? She is suspicious already of you; I can see it every time she looks at you."

* * *

Valentin paced his new office. Don't think that I don't know that? She had never opened up to me yet."

"I think that you are blinded by your feelings for her. Deny it all you want but you can't lie to me, Valentin. You developed feelings for your captive. Distancing yourself from her will only make her even more suspicious, how are you going to deal with that? What are you going to do when she asks questions that you cannot answer? You think that you have all your bases covered but you don't trust me. Somehow they got an inkling that something was not kosher and they are looking into it."

"Now whose fault is that?" Valentin challenged. "A Spencer dying in a mysterious fire, who'd believe that after what you did? I am surprised it took Nikolas this long to get people to believe him. After what you did to his brother. You forget how protective he is of his baby sister. Once he finds out it was you that took her, he will stop at nothing to get her back and make you pay."

* * *

Nikolas drank a cup of coffee and Dante impatiently paced back and forth on the plane while Spinelli worked on his computer. If their new destination now known, Spinelli was looking for any large cash transactions on the island to pinpoint Valentin and Lulu's location.

"Will you please sit down?" Lucky asked. "You are driving me nuts."

"I agree with my brother, mate. You need to chill. We are going to find her," Ethan agreed.

"We know he is telling her things," Dante muttered. "She does not believe him. The question is what is he telling her?"

"He is trying to turn her against us, that's what he is doing," Lucky said."Helena tried doing that to me."

"Something is telling her that what Valentin is telling her is horseshit," Ethan said. "That's the Spencer side coming out of her. Val doesn't know what he is in store for once her Spencer side fully comes out."

Lucky chuckled. "That is right. Dad taught her well. He taught her how to pick a lock, hotwire a car, and fire a gun all before she started school. Lulu is going to make his life hell and enjoy every second of it."

* * *

Lulu patted into the kitchen where the chef was busy preparing breakfast. "Good morning, miss. How did you sleep?" he asked.

"Wonderful. Where is Valentin?" Lulu answered.

"Mr. Cassadine is in a meeting. In the meantime, he told me to prepare whatever you want to eat."

Lulu sat down at the center island. "Could I have some scrambles eggs, toast, and some bacon?"

"Coming up," the chef said.

Lulu got up and went out on the deck. "I will take it out here, if you don't mind."

The lagoon sparkled in the morning sunlight. Sailboats and other pleasure boats dotted the lagoon and the horizon. She saw some people walking along the shore. They waved at her, Lulu smiled and waved back.

This time, maybe she could go into town on her own. Valentin could not spend every minute of every day with her. She needed to venture out on her own. She needed to see what this island had to offer her.

First and most important she needed to see a doctor to see how her pregnancy was going. Hopefully she could do that without Valentin coming with her. She wanted to do this alone without Valentin's looming presence in the doctor's office.

"Penny for your thoughts," Valentin came out on the deck.

"Oh, hey. I was just admiring the view. It's so pretty here," Lulu said. "The chef is making me something to eat. You should join me."

"I would love to but I have to go to a meeting this morning," Valentin said. "But after I am finished how about we go explore this island?"

"I would like that a lot. I am going to eat some breakfast then read a book out on the deck."

Valentin kissed the top of her head, Lulu tried not to recoil. "I will see you soon. While we are exploring, we need to find you a doctor so we can get a good look at our baby."

He placed his hand on her still flat stomach. Lulu fought the urged to throw up. This time, Valentin noticed her discomfort. "What is it, Lulu?" he asked, growing concerned.

"It's morning sickness. Don't worry, I will be fine" Lulu reassured him. "Go to your meeting. Then we can check out this island."

* * *

Nikolas' jet landed on the western side of the island. Spinelli explained that Aitutaki was made up of fifteen smaller islands. The barrier reef that surrounded the island's lagoon created an equilateral triangle. The airport was constructed by the United States and New Zealand military during WWII. The person who had discovered the island was Captain Bligh of the HMS Bounty before the infamous mutiny in April of 1789.

"This is all fascinating but how is that going to help us find Lulu?" Dante asked as they entered the car that Nikolas had rented.

"Our best bet is look for the best beachside bungalows. That is where he is going to go. A bungalow that is closest to a doctor or a clinic. Lulu still might need medical attention for her injuries," Ethan added.

"Good point, let's start there first. Where to Spinelli?" Lucky asked from the driver's seat.

Spinelli gave them general directions.

"I am just going to come out and say it," Nikolas began. "Has anyone given any thought what are we going to tell Lulu once we find her? Who knows what he has been telling her. He could have told her that she has no family or her family wants nothing to so with her."

"I guess we will cross that bridge when we come to it," Dante said. "Let's go find our girl, huh?"

* * *

A/N: Sorry that it was so short! :D


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17::**

Sonny sat in his office in the back of the Italian restaurant. It has been a few days since Spinelli taken off with Dante and Lulu's brothers on Nikolas' jet trying to find Lulu. According to his moles in the police department and the hospital, Nikolas had ordered an independent DNA test using his blood to test it against the body that was found in the burned out car. It was not Lulu's body.

Sonny praised the Lord for that. The thought that he killed his best friend's daughter and his oldest son's girlfriend was almost too much to bear. He had known Lulu all of her life not to mention that she was his children's cousin.

"There is no need to come clean now since the body was not Lulu's," Jason said, coming into the office.

"But she is out there somewhere. The world is a big place. We don't even know who has her," Sonny pointed out.

"Spinelli sent me an e-mail."

"Since when you use e-mail?" Sonny asked.

"Anyway, the brothers and Dante are convinced that the person who has Lulu is Valentin Cassadine. From what Spinelli emailed me about him, Valentin is once sick dude."

"Do you…"

Jason nodded. "Yes, we have men on their way to Spinelli's location to help out if they need it."

"That is the least I can do after I…created a chain of events that caused her being grabbed by this sicko and making believe to all her loved ones that she was dead. Whatever they need, I don't care what it costs I am going to pay for it."

* * *

Lulu had on a large straw hat and a pair of over-sized sunglasses as she and Valentin toured the village marketplace. She was wearing a floral print dress while Valentin wore Bermuda shorts and a white linen shirt. They looked like a honeymooning couple. His meeting didn't last too long. Lulu was grateful for it. They just had made an appointment at the doctor for a few days later to finally see their baby. For once, Valentin seemed at ease. He still made her wear the huge hat and sunglasses but no wig this time.

The marketplace was packed. Valentin held on to her hand a little too tightly as they weaved from booth to booth. Valentin had bought her some handmade sarongs and some other hats.

They were passing the food section of the market place where the aroma of the island foods made Lulu's mouth water. "Let's get something to eat," she said to him. "This looks so good."

"Are you sure, Lulu? I mean there are great restaurants around here. We could go there. I mean they must have health department regulations in restaurants. These booths… I don't know," Valentin stammered.

"Come on the best food comes from booths like these than any five star restaurants," Lulu pouted.

Valentin relented after she gave him the puppy-dog look. "Alright, what do you want to eat?"

"The yellow finned tuna with mango salsa; it looks really good." She pointed to the booth they were standing near by.

"May I suggest one of our island favorites of chicken gado gado?" the booth keeper recommended. "It's a classic Indonesian salad made with green beans, potatoes, carrots, and bean sprouts with some boiled eggs on top and drizzled with peanut sauce. It's so filling that you may not want to eat dinner later."

"That sounds very good." Valentin turned to the booth keeper. "We will take two, please."

The booth keeper smiled and placed a heaping helping of the chicken gado gado on a paper plate. "How much longer are you going to be on the island?"

Lulu shrugged. "We are in no hurry to get back home, why?"

"We are having an end of winter beginning of spring festival in two days. It will down at the lagoon by the big hotels. All the hotels are doing it. It's one big party. You and your husband should come. There are going to be all sorts of Polynesian dancers, fire dancers it should be a lot of fun."

Lulu turned to Valentin. "Can we go? It's going to be a blast!"

"If you wear a coconut bra and a grass skirt then I will consider it," Valentin replied.

If it meant that she would have to walk over hot coals to interact with other people than Valentin and his staff she would gladly do it. She smiled. "I guess I have to before I get all fat and disgusting in a few months."

"Not going to happen." Valentin handed Lulu her plate of food, paid the lady, and them got his own food. "You are going to be beautiful no matter what."

"So can we go or do I have to go by myself?"

"We will go together," Valentin answered.

* * *

The guys arrived at a lagoon side hotel that was near the beach house that was rented indefinitely. They had gotten two adjoining rooms under the guise this was a large bachelor party, having one last good party before one of them gets married. Lulu's brothers took one room while Dante had to bunk with Spinelli.

"There is going to be a traditional island festivity tonight. It's the beginning of spring. They are going to do all sorts of dancing do they could have a good growing season," Spinelli said from his laptop.

"No doubt that Lulu would want to go, with being all alone with Valentin on the other island with no other human interaction. She will crave talking to other people. We need to go there."

"I will have us be one of the employees there. But there something we may have to wear Polynesian costumes. Can you fire dance?"

The door that adjoined their room to the other swung open. Lucky and Nikolas came in. "We need to go down and mingle with those people so we can catch a glimpse of Lulu," Lucky said.

"I have a question. What are we going to do if we see her? I mean…we can't just bum rush her saying that you three are her brother, you are her best friend, and I am her boyfriend. It might have some traumatic effects on her or something," Dante pointed out.

"We will come up with something. No doubt he told her that her family severed ties with her. We can say that we are her brothers and we are sorry about our behavior or something along those lines," Nikolas said. "The party is going to start at sundown. We still have a few hours. Why don't we get some sleep because we have been all over the world in the last few days and jetlag is going to catch up with us. Let's reconvene in three hours."

They closed the door behind him. Dante move to the bed and sat down. "I don't think that I can sleep until we get Lulu back."

"The Deceptive Detective has other reasons to get Fair Lulu back, doesn't he?" Spinelli asked.

"She better be alright. If that…if he did anything to her, I am going to kill him with my bare hands."

* * *

Lulu adjusted her tankini top. Her boobs were getting bigger while her stomach remained relatively flat. She also found a grass skirt that she wore over her sarong. Valentin was going to be happy, Lulu thought, anything to keep him distracted. She was alright with him kissing her most of the time. But when he touched her it made her cringe. What if he wanted to take their relationship to the next level? She was not ready for that.

Lulu then pulled her long blond hair into ponytail. Just as she was adding the finishing touches to her makeup, Valentin came into her room. He was wearing a white button down shirt and a pair of kaki pants. "You know when I said to wear a coconut bra and a grass skirt I was kidding, right?"

Lulu smiled. "I know. I wanted this to be a surprise. So surprise!"

Valentin pulled her close. "We don't have to go to the party you know. There something that we can do here and it will be just the two of us."

Lulu turned her grimace to a pout, knowing what he meant. "But you promised! It's going to be a lot of fun! If you are lucky I will give you your own private hula dance."

"Well, let's go then."

The sun was disappearing over the horizon when Valentin and Lulu came to the beach by the lagoon. The festival was like a luau. She smelled all sorts of delicious smelling foods. She was hoping that there was a roast pig buried somewhere in the sand. There were hula dancers all over the place and some fire dancers were practicing on the stage dancing to some ukulele music. As soon as they reached the edge of party, flowered leis were placed around their necks by a grass skirt wearing dancer. "Welcome to the Spring Luau. Enjoy."

"You just got laid," Lulu laughed.

"Let's hope so," Valentin muttered.

Lulu tugged on his arm. "Let's go check on the dancers. I want to see their moves, and maybe they I can come up with some moves of my own."

"Why are we doing this again?" Ethan complained looking down at his bright orange floral swim trunks. He adjusted his crown that was made from palm leaves then he adjusted his lei. "I look like a buffoon and you blokes don't; look much better either."

Spinelli sighed. "It was either this or a fire dancer. We need to be incognito but is better, we will blend in."

They were standing beside the tiki bar where the bartender piled their severing trays with all sorts of island drinks. "You guys are lucky to have a job, stop complaining!" the bartender snapped.

"Yeah Ethan stop." Lucky came to the bar with a bucket of ice, handing it off to the bartender who dumped it in the ice bin. "You know why we are here."

"Fine," Ethan pouted, picking up his tray. "I will be back soon."

He disappeared into the throng of people. Dante turned to his tray as the bartender loaded his trays up. "Why is your friend such a wet towel?"

"He's upset that I am going to marry his sister," Dante replied. "He is not too thrilled about it."

The bartender laughed. "Most brothers want to beat up their brother-in-laws."

"Been there done that," Dante admitted. "I better get these drinks out before they get warm."

Spinelli was weaving in and out of partygoers with his tray. He saw a flash of blond out of the corner of his eye. It was like a beacon in the sea of brunette. He made a beeline to her. They needed to establish contact, to see if she remembered anything. Spinelli kept his head down as he approached Valentin and Lulu. Who were at the lagoon's edge watching the stars.

"May I suggest a delectable Mai Tai, Mango Cooler, or a Planter's Punch to drink?" Spinelli held the tray out.

"I will try one," Valentin took a glass from the tray. "Do you have anything non-alcoholic? She is pregnant."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18:**

"What are the chances that we are going to run in to them?" Ethan muttered to Dante as they weaved in and out of the partygoers with their trays and offered the drinks to people.

"Pretty good considering this is a pretty big party. She is liable to show up sooner or later," Dante said.

"I hope she is not wearing a disguise or something. It would be easy to pick out her blond hair in this sea of brunette," Ethan said. "Any idea what you are going to do to Valentin? I was considering punching his lights out or choking him."

Dante laughed. He did give some thought of what he was going to do to Valentin once he saw him. He did bring his gun with him just in case, but the thought of shooting him was too quick and easy. Valentin needed to suffer like he made of Lulu's loved ones suffer.

"I'll know what I will do once we become face to face."

* * *

"The Blon- the lady is expecting?" Spinelli caught himself before he said anything else.

Valentin placed his hand on Lulu's stomach, Spinelli wanted to beat Valentin senseless with a piece of driftwood for touching Lulu.

"We are about to start a family," Valentin confirmed. "I can't be any more happier. She is the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with."

Spinelli was flabbergasted. Valentin seemed to be smitten with Lulu. In his own way, Spinelli almost thought that Valentin might be in love with Lulu. He hated the way that the evil Cassadine was looking at Lulu. Spinelli wanted to dump his tray over Valentin's head and grab Lulu and get the hell out of there.

Instead he heard himself saying that he was going to return with some juice for Lulu. He didn't want to tip Valentin off that he was there. Then he dashed towards the bar. Dante and Ethan were already there waiting for their trays to be filled of drinks with little umbrellas in them.

* * *

"There is this island girl that is stacked wearing this itty-bitty little bikini," Ethan said. "I think she is infatuated with me. Maybe I can cut out early and go…"

"I found nothing either. We are looking for your sister not to get lucky with some island native," Dante grumbled as he grabbed his tray and headed back into the crowd.

"We have a dilemma," Spinelli stated when he ran up to Ethan. He was glad that Dante wasn't there when he divulged the news about Lulu. He was liable to go off and kill Valentin with his bare hands.

"What?" Ethan demanded.

"I just ran into the Blond One and The Demented Uncle. He provided some interesting information that we never…never would have suspected."

Ethan rolled his eyes. "English please!"

"I ran into Lulu and Valentin on the beach. I offered them a delectable drink; Valentin took one and told me to bring Lulu an non- alcoholic drink."

"Because she is probably on high dose medication," Ethan said. "Where are they? Let's go get my sister."

"Wait that isn't the reason," Spinelli took a deep breath before he continued. "Valentin said that the reason that Lulu wasn't able to drink is because she is pregnant."

"You should keep hidden," Lucky whispered to Nikolas. "Of all the people Valentin will know who you are."

"As long as we get Lulu back," Nikolas said. "That is the most important thing."

Lucky weaved through the crowd. He stopped when he saw a flash of blond standing by the water. "Wait there she is. Why is Valentin standing so close to her? I don't like it. Now he is touching her arm? I am going to break every bone in his body and enjoy every minute of it!" Lucky fumed. "You are going to help me, right? Let's not tell Dante because he is going to kill the guy!"

"Whoa, now who is getting all protective?" Nikolas asked. "He is not going to try something with all of these people here."

"But she is within eyesight! I am not leaving this island without my baby sister!" Lucky complained.

"We just go up there and grab her as much as we want to. It might cause some damage to her. WE need to wait this out and see if Valentin shows his hand."

"We are not going to stand back and watch him molest out baby sister!" Lucky protested. "Who knows what he already done to her!"

* * *

Lulu wrapped her arms around herself as she watched the moonlight shimmer across the water. Valentin came up behind her wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on the top of her head. "We could always head back to the house if you want to leave," he said softly.

"We just got here," Lulu protested. "Besides that waiter is going to wonder where I am when he come back with the juice or whatever he is going to bring. Besides I want to try some of that pig that they are going to be digging up soon."

Valentin made a face. "It has been in the ground for what twenty hours? You really want to eat it?"

"Come the best tasting things are really bad for you." Lulu pouted. "Please?"

Valentin turned her around so he was facing him. "You know I have a hard time saying now to you." He took her hand in his. "Let's head back to the party."

* * *

"If he laid another hand on her, he would have lost it," Lucky said under his breath and they watched Lulu and Valentin return to the luau. "If he kissed her he would have lost his fifth appendage."

"Let's keep close to them and see where his place is at. Once know that, we can work on the second phase of the plan," Nikolas said.

"You didn't say what I thought you said," Ethan stammered. "He hasn't had her enough to…"

He didn't finish because the thought of Valentin impregnating his little sister was a visual that he didn't want to have.

"The baby… if there is a baby must be Dante's. They go at it like bunnies," Spinelli said. "Not that I have personal knowledge of it, but the Young Sir Michael told me that he walked in on them multiple of times!"

Ethan grabbed Spinelli by the lei that were around his neck. "You are talking about my baby sister. I suggest that you tread lightly, mate."

"I just meant that it is better news knowing that Valentin didn't defile your sister,"

"Let's hope that is the case. If it is not there is going to be a lot of people that are going to kill him, myself included," Ethan admitted.

They were soon joined at the bar by Lucky and Nikolas when they came back to get more drinks. "We saw them. Valentin was all over her," Lucky said, making a face. "I wanted to break his face right then and there."

"Then you really don't want to hear what Spinelli found out," Ethan said.

"What did you find out?" Lucky demeaned. "Ethan you tell it. I really don't want to translate anything."

The bartender glared at them as he made the drinks for them.

Ethan tried to think of a way to break it to them the best way possible."Apparently Lulu can't drink anything alcoholic," Ethan said.

"She is probably on all sorts of medication," Nikolas said. "He doesn't want her to get sick from the drug and alcohol interaction."

"No that is not it," Ethan said.

"What do you mean that is that reason?" Lucky demanded. "Wait….no…."

"What?" Nikolas demanded.

The bartender placed drinks on each of their trays. He was muttering under his breath that the new people were slacking.

"You can't be serious," Lucky demanded. "Wait, it's only been a few weeks… it must be Dante's. That is a relief. The thought of that is too much. I would have killed him with a coconut shot to the head."

"We are missing something big here, mates. How are we going to tell Dante? That boy is going to rip off Valentin's head before we get a chance to tell him that the baby could be his."

* * *

"You're welcome," Dante said as a person picked up one of the drinks from his tray and thanked him.

He saw a flash of blond out of the corner of his eye. His mouth went dry and his heart began to pound. She was a vision wearing her tankini and colorful sarong. Lulu was less that twenty feet from him. His blood began to boil when he noticed the placement of Valentin's hand. It was on the small of Lulu's back as he guided her through the crowd. Valentin's had wondered lower until in was smack on Lulu's backside. Valentin squeezed it then patted it lightly. "_Stronzo lascia la mia Donna_" Dante cursed in Italian under his breath.

Loosely translated it meant '_Asshole get your hand off my lady_.'

Dante wanted to rip the hand off and shove it down Valentin's throat. Valentin had no right to touch Lulu in this life or the next. With his head tucked down he made his way to them. He had to see for himself that Lulu was alright for himself.

"This is fun. I am glad that I agreed to come here," Valentin said as he and Lulu headed to the fire pit to see when the pig was going to be pulled out.

"This is so much better than being on the other island. There are other people here, activities to do…"

"Drink?" Dante asked holding out his tray.

Valentin placed his empty glass on the tray and retrieved another one. "We were going to the bar and get some juice for the lady."

Luckily the bartender placed a glass of pineapple juice in a cup that looked like a pineapple on his tray.

"I have plain pineapple juice." Dante picked it up and handed it to Lulu, their fingers brushed. He instantly felt like he was struck by lightning. They still had that connection; he hoped that Lulu felt it too.

Lulu looked at him curiously as if she was trying to get a better look at him through the dim light from the torches and moonlight. "Thank you kind sir, I cannot be drinking anything alcoholic for the next nine months because I am going to have a baby."

* * *

A/N:: Sorry about the delay! I hope you like it! :D


	19. Chapter 19

A/N:: Sorry about the wait! I hope this makes up for it!

**Chapter 19:**

Dante wasn't sure he heard her correctly. "You are having a baby?" he repeated.

Lulu nodded as she sipped her pineapple juice. There was something familiar about the man's voice in front of her. She could not put her finger on it.

Dante's fingers tightened around his tray. He wanted to beat Valentin's smug head in with it. Out of nowhere like divine intervention a volleyball came out of nowhere hitting Valentin square in the face. "Ouch!" he dropped the glass, and brought his hands to his nose.

Dante looked behind him to see where the ball came from. Ethan stood on the crowd with a concerned look on his face. "You okay, man?" Dante asked, looking at Lulu not at Valentin, hoping against hope that she would remember him.

"I think my nose is broken," Valentin muttered, as blood seeped out from his fingers.

Lulu undid her sarong around her waist, wadded it up, and pressed it to Valentin' face. "Here use this."

"Ow!" Valentin complained as she pressed the material to his nose. "Easy! That hurts!"

"We better get back to the house and have a doctor look at it. Your nose maybe broken, we have to go," Lulu advised. "Thank you."

* * *

Dante watched them walk down the beach with Lulu pressing the sarong to Valentin's nose, and disappear into a house on the far end.

"What the hell man?" Dante demanded when Ethan approached him. "I almost had her!"

"I saved you from a murder charge. Even from standing far away I saw in your face that you wanted to rip his head off him kick it into the sea."

"She's pregnant, Lulu said so herself," Dante muttered softly.

"In all likelihood the kid is yours. She hasn't been with him long enough to knock her up. Don't answer this but, how long did it take you two to finally get together that way?" Ethan asked.

Dante thought back, it took almost a year for him and Lulu to finally consummate their relationship. Lulu would have not gone to be with someone she hardly knew. "Okay the kid is mine. Now how the hell are we going to get her away from him?"

"At least we know what house they are staying at. Let's regroup and figure it out from there," Ethan said.

* * *

Lulu had Valentin sit on the stool in the kitchen while she got some ice from the freezer. She put it in the clean dishrag.

She walked back to Valentin, she gently replaced the bloody sarong, which she tossed to the floor, with the icepack. "This should stop the swelling until the doctor arrives."

"Ow," Valentin complained.

"Stop complaining," Lulu ordered. "It was an accident."

"I highly doubt that," he muttered. "It was night, why would people be playing volleyball when it is dark outside?"

"Did you fail to notice the party going on outside? At parties people drink and tend to do stupid things when they are drunk, hence playing volleyball."

The front door opened and slammed shut. "That must be the doctor. He made good time," Lulu said.

"The amount of money I pay him, he should be quicker," Valentin complained.

"Quit acting like a baby, geez! I was nearly blown up and lost my memory and I didn't complain as much as you have!" Lulu pointed out.

The doctor came into the kitchen. "I heard that you had an unfortunate accident with a volleyball."

"I think my nose is broken," Valentin said.

Lulu moved away from Valentin, taking the icepack with her.

"Let's take a look," the doctor said, examining the Valentin's nose on sight. He slipped on some rubber gloves. "Does this hurt?"

"Ow!" Valentin complained as the doctor poked at his nose with one finger.

"I am going to reset the nose, this is going to hurt," the doctor warned.

There was a sickening crunch the doctor reset Valentin's nose. Valentin whimpered in pain.

"Okay, you will be sporting two black eyes. Put some ice on your nose and you will be fine," the doctor said. If the pain is too much have him take one of these."

He handed Lulu a bottle of pills. "That should be enough for a few days. And you Miss, ready to see the baby tomorrow at the office?

Lulu placed the bottle of pills on the counter and picked up the icepack up from the counter, placing it back on Valentin's face. "Yes, I am."

The doctor excused himself and left.

"How bad is it?" Valentin whined. "I can't conduct business with a broken nose and two black eyes. It looks like I got into a fight."

"With a volleyball," Lulu reminded him.

Valentin took the icepack from Lulu; he set it on the counter. With his other hand he pulled Lulu onto his lap. "I like that you are taking care of me, Lulu. But it's my job to take care of you and our baby."

He placed a hand on her still flat stomach. He had a look in his eyes that she had never seen him have for her. It was the look of desire. As to emphasize it, Lulu felt his erection as she sat on his lap.

"Uh, I better get some rest."

She tried to get up but Valentin wrapped his arms around her waist keeping her where she was.

"I have a better idea…"

* * *

"I don't like her being alone with him," Dante complained. "Who knows what he is doing to her now."

They all were near the bar getting new drinks still under the guise of

"At lease we know where they are staying," Nikolas said. "What are we going to do now?"

"We need to get her out of there ASAP!" Lucky exclaimed. "I swear if he puts his slimy hands on my baby sister… I am going to rip his hands off and beat him to death with them!"

Ethan laughed. "You sounded like Luke just now. I am glad that he is not here with us. He would have used a bowling ball to hit Valentin in the head."

"Where is Luke?" Dante said. "He didn't even show up for the funeral. That's…"

"Knowing Luke Spencer he doesn't believe that Lulu-his Cupcake- is dead. He is probably scouring the planet like we are looking for her like we are," Lucky said.

"When where is he?" Dante said. "You'd think that we might have run into him at one of our jaunts."

"Don't worry he is just as worried about Lulu as we are. He just has a funny way to show it. Why do you think Luke married Tracy? Lulu needed a mother figure," Nikolas said.

"I just want her back! We know where she is; hell we know she is alive! Why don't we get her now?" Dante said.

* * *

Valentin pulled Lulu into a kiss that he quickly turned passionate. He picked Lulu up and carried her up the stairs to his room. He lay her on top of the bed.

Lulu sat up, she didn't feel right being with Valentin in that way.

"What? I have been very patient with you," Valentin said. "I have taken you to one of the most beautiful places in the world."

"I know. I am just going to go downstairs to get us something to drink because we are going to work up quite a thirst. I'll be right back." She kissed him on the lips then she left the room.

Once in the kitchen Lulu felt sick. She went to fridge; she pulled out a bottle of non-alcoholic white wine. She opened the bottle, poured two glasses. She was about to go back upstairs when she noticed the bottle of painkillers that the doctor gave Valentin.

She set the glasses down and examined the bottle. "Should not be taken with alcohol may cause drowsiness," she read. She opened the bottle, noticed that the pills were small. "Perfect."

She crushed the pill and placed it in Valentin's drink. She watched it disappear in his drink and smiled. Valentin wasn't going to know what hit him.

She returned to his bedroom with the glasses of wine. She handed Valentin his. "To us and the baby," she toasted.

Valentin clicked her glass and took a sip. "To us, I like that."

He started to kiss her again, they by divine magic, he got really sleepy and passed out. He was going to be out for hours. Lulu smiled to herself taking both of the glasses and took them back into the kitchen, to wash the glasses to get rid of the evidence.

Since it was still early she headed back to the beach to the luau. She went to the bar where a group of men were deep in conversation. The geeky one looked up. "Blond One?" he said. "What are you doing here?"

Lulu turned. The man that haunted her dreams for the past few weeks was standing not five feet from her. All of a sudden, memories came flooding back to her. It was too much for her to take, she collapsed on the sand.

* * *

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	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 19:**

Lulu thought she was dreaming. In the cloudy haze of waking up, she was able to make out shapes and several voices.

"_Why isn't she awake yet?" a voice asked._

"_I don't know," another responded._

"_It's been a few hours," another one responded. "She should be awake by now."_

"_Since when are you a doctor?"_

"_I think we better take her to a doctor," yet another one said._

"_Is she really pregnant?"the first voice asked "Maybe we should have taken her to the hospital before we left the island."_

Lulu sat up. It took her a moment to realize that she was no longer on the beach, she was on a jet. "Where am I?" she rubbed her eyes.

"Thank God!" one of them breathed,

"Lulu?"

"What's going on? Where am I?" Lulu demanded. "Nikolas what is going on?"

Nikolas breathed in a sigh of relief. "You remember us?"

"Yeah I do. What's happening? How did you find me?"

Dante sat next to her on the sofa. "Nikolas and I knew deep down that you were still alive. We needed to prove it. It took awhile but we proved that the body in your car was not you. We have been chasing you and Valentin around the world ever since."

"Speaking about the Demented Uncle, how did you get away from him?" Spinelli asked.

Lulu smiled. "He wanted to… you know. I drugged his wine. He's passed out. I ran out of there and you know the rest."

"Drugged his wine with what?" Lucky asked.

"The painkillers he got from the doctor when the volleyball broke his nose." She looked up at them. "Wait a second, which one of you was it?"

"I was aiming for his jaw. I must have missed," Ethan admitted. "It's so good to have you back sis. I am glad that you are not dead."

"Thank you, I think."

Dante picked up her hand and brought it to his lips. He kissed it. "What did he tell you about us? What kind of lies did he tell you?"

"Do you really want to know?" Lulu asked.

"Everything!" Dante said.

"Are you really here?" Lulu touched his cheek. "When I had memory flashes it was of mostly of you."

"I'm really here," Dante confirmed, stroking her cheek. "You are really here. We are finally together."

"What did Valentin tell you to gain your trust?" Nikolas asked.

"You really want to know?" Lulu asked.

"Only if you really want to," Lucky said. "We don't want to push you."

"When I woke up I was bandaged and I couldn't remember my own name. Valentin told me at first I was in a bad car accident. The reason that my family and friends weren't visiting was because they didn't approve of our relationship and severed all ties with me," Lulu explained.

"What else did he do?" Dante grunted.

"Nothing. He became possessive of me. I couldn't go anywhere without him at my side."

"That's enough for now," Nikolas said. "Lu, get some rest. We have a long plane ride home."

Valentin woke up when someone was slapping him across the face. "Wake up!"

"Helena?" Valentin asked. "What's going on?"

"Lulu is gone," Helena seethed.

"Gone? Where is she on the beach?"

"No. Gone as in gone. She is on a plane back home as we speak."

"What!" Valentin sat up a little too quickly he got light headed. "What do you mean she is on a plane back to Port Charles?"

"Apparently her brothers and Dante were on the island. They found her and took her back, after she drugged your wine of course. You would have noticed something if were thinking with your head that is attached to your shoulders."

Valentin picked up his cell phone. "Are you? You better call me the minute that plane touches down."

"Why are you going after her? Did you fall in love with her?" Helena demanded.

"What if I did?" Valentin challenged. "As far as she knows the baby she is carrying is mine."

"She can have a DNA test on the baby."

"Lab techs are easily bought. Gas up the jet we are heading back to Port Charles!" 


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: It's short. Hope you like it!

**Chapter 20:**

Dante watched Lulu as she slept. He felt relieved that she was back and safe. He couldn't shake the feeling that they haven't seen the last of Valentin Cassadine. Valentin had planned his abduction of Lulu for a long time. He doubted that they had seen the last of Valentin.

Nikolas sat next to him on the sofa. "What are you thinking about, Dante?"

"I don't think that Valentin is someone that wouldn't give up without a fight," Dante said. "He is going to try and get Lulu back."

"We are going to stop him before that. Between the guys that I am going to hire to keep an eye out on her and the guys that you dad is going to have watching her. There is no way in hell that he is getting close to her."

Valentin was on his phone as his jet headed back to the states. "Is it all set? Great. I cannot wait for this to happen. I love toying with people's lives for the hell out of it."

* * *

_Two weeks later…._

After being a short stay at General Hospital to make sure she was one hundred percent, Lulu was released from the hospital. Dante was there when they saw their baby for the first time on the sonogram. It was too soon to tell what they were having but they were excited to hear the baby's heart beat for the first time.

The Quartermaines were throwing her an "I am Not Dead Yet" party at their house. They invited the entire town.

"See how you were loved in this town?" Dante said as they were stopped by someone else for them to say how glad they were to see that she was alive.

"I know. Valentin had a video feed of my funeral that he was watching."

"The scum-bucket made you watch your own funeral?" Ethan said as he happened on his sister. "I should have thrown a rock at his head rather than that volleyball."

"Can we have a party without mentioned Who Shall Be Not Named?" Lulu asked. "I am glad that I am rid of him. If I ever saw him again… let's just say that it is not pretty thought."

"Sounds good to me, baby. I think that Tracy wants to give a speech since your Dad is not here." Dante said as Tracy walked into the middle of the room.

"Thank you all for coming. The last time we were all together was one of the saddest days of life. When we all thought that my lovely little stepdaughter has been killed. Today is one of the happiest days of my life when my stepdaughter was brought back to us after a long gaunt around the world." Tracy raised her glass. "To Lulu, we may have had our differences in the past but now I love you as one of my own."

"To Lulu!" The crowd cheered.

Dante pressed a kiss to her temple. "I love you baby."

* * *

The next morning, Dante walked Lulu to work at Crimson. Maxie and Kate were running around. "What is going on, Connie?" Dante asked as Kate dashed into her office.

"Someone just bought the magazine and they are coming in this morning," Maxie explained. "We are getting ready."

"The magazine was bought up?" Dante asked.

"Don't worry Lulu's job is safe. He wants to keep the staff that we already have," Kate said. "And Lulu, I am glad that you are not dead."

"Uh thanks, Kate." Lulu went over to her desk. "I am glad that I am not dead either."

The elevator dinged.

"He's here!" Maxie exclaimed.

There were footsteps then. "Hello Lulu. It's so good to see you again."

* * *

I'll give you one guess on who that person it!


End file.
